national  ttreasuree 


THE   LOUVRE 


Uniform  with  this  volume 

THE   NATIONAL 
GALLERY 

BY  J.  E.  CKAWFORD  FLITCH 

Other  books  are  in  preparation 


LA  DANSE 

Jean  Baptist e  Carpeaux 


THE  LOUVRE 


BY 

E.   E.   RICHARDS 


BOSTON 
SMALL,  MAYNARD  AND  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


PRINTED    P.Y 

THE   RIVERSIDE   PRESS   LIMITED 

EDINBURGH 

IQI2 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.  THE    PALACE    OF    THE    LOUVRE             .             .  11 

II.  THE    MUSEUM    OF    THE    LOUVRE           .             .  6l 

III.  THE    PAINTINGS      .....  74 

IV.  THE    GREEK    AND    ROMAN    SCULPTURES       .  110 

V.    MEDIAEVAL,    RENAISSANCE      AND      MODERN 

SCULPTURE          .  .  .  .  .132 

VI.    THE   EGYPTIAN   AND    ASIATIC    ANTIQUITIES          140 

VII.    THE       ANTIQUE       PAINTINGS,      POTTERIES, 

BRONZES    AND    ORNAMENTS  .  .          149 

VIII.    THE    IVORIES,    ENAMELS,    FURNITURE    AND 

FAIENCE  .  .  .  .  .  .156 

IX.  THE  MUSEE  DE  MARINE,  THE  MUSEE 
CHINOISE,  THE  COLLECTION  GRAN- 
DIDIER,  AND  THE  CHALCOGRAPHIE  .  1 69 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

LA  DANCE    ....  (Carpeaux)  Frontispiece 

Photograph :  Alinari 

TO   FACE   PAGE 

THE  LOUVRE  OF  THE  XV.  CENTURY         .         .       32 
THE  GRANDE         .         .         .    (Galerie)  .       33 

THE  LOUVRE  FROM  THE  RIVER        ...      48 
6  PERRAULT'S  COLONNADE  '  .         .         .49 

ELIZABETH  D'AUTRICHE          .     (Clouet]  .         .       56 
REPAS  DBS  PAYSANS         .          .      (Lenain]  .       57 

Photograph'.  Alinari 

GlLLES  .  .  .  .      ( Watteau}          .       64 

Photograph'.  Alinari 

LE  CHATEAU  DE  CARTES         .     (Chardin)          .      6.5 

Photograph '.  Alinari 

MADAME  RECAMIER        .         .     (David]   .         .72 

L'lMPERATRICE  JOSEPHINE        .       (Prud ' hon]          .         73 
Photog>-aph\  Alinari 

PAYSAGE       ....     (Corot}     ,         .       80 

Photograph'.  Alinari 
L'ANGELUS  ....       (Millet}     .  .81 

OLYMPIA      .          .         .          .     (Mamt}   .         .       88 

Photograph  '.  Giraudon 

PORTRAIT  D'UN  VIEILLARD  ET  DE  SON  PETITS- 

FILS      ....      (Ghirlandaio}     .        89 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO   FACE   PAGE 


( Correggio) 


ANTIOPE 

Photograph'.  Alinari 

ALPHONSE    DE    FERRARA    ET   LAURA    DE 
DlANTI  .  .  .      (Titian)    . 

Photograph'.  Alinari 

CONCERT  CHAMPETRE  .         .     (Giorgione) 
FERDINARD  D'ARPAGON          .     (Theotocopuli) 

Photograph  '.  Alinari 

LE  PiED-BoT        .          .          .      (Kiberd)   . 
L' INFANTE  MARIE  MARGUERITE     ( Velasquez) 

LA  VlERGE    AU   DONATEUR 

Photograph  '.  Alinari 

LE  BANQUIER  ET  SA  FEMME 

Photograph '.  A  linari 

VENUS  DE  MILO    . 

Photograph'.  Alinari 

NIKE  DE  SAMOTRACE 

Photograph'.  Alinari 

DIANE 

Photograph  :  A  linari 

LOUISE  BRONGNIART 

Photograph  :  Giraudon 

FRISE  DES  ARCHERS        .... 

Photograph  '.  Giraudon 

SCRIBE  ACCROUPI  .... 

LA   BOHEMIENNE  .          .          .      (Frans  Hals) 

Photograph  '.  Alinari 

CHARLES  IER          .          .          .     ( Van  Dyck) 


96 

97 

104 
105 

112 
113 

(Jean  Van  Eye k)     120 

( Quentm  Matsys)  121 

.  128 

.  129 

(Jean  Goujon)    .  136 

(HoudonJ            .  137 


145 
152 

153 


10 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

So  bewildering  is  the  Louvre,,  so  overpowering 
by  its  size  alone,  even  without  the  vast  collections 
which  are  housed  in  it,  that  few  visitors  realise 
its  charm  as  a  building,  its  profoundly  interesting 
story  as  a  royal  palace.  The  great  picture  gallery 
takes  up  all  the  attention  of  the  sightseer ;  the 
other  collections  are  hardly  appreciated  at  their 
proper  value ;  the  building  and  its  history  are 
alike  neglected. 

And  yet  the  Palace  of  the  Louvre  is  a  living 
witness  of  French  history,  built  for  the  glorifica- 
tion of  the  ancient  monarchy ;  though  by  some 
drollery  of  Fate  it  was  reserved  for  Louis  Napoleon 
to  complete  the  work  begun  by  the  French  kings. 
If  the  greatest  art  collections  of  the  world  seem 
housed  in  the  Louvre,  the  palace  now  of  Madame 
La  Republique,  how  much  do  they  not  owe  to 
their  setting  in  what  is  the  largest  palace  in  the 
world ;  a  palace  covering  nearly  forty-five  acres, 
ii 


THE  LOUVRE 

divided  into  two  parts — the  Vieux  Louvre,  or  the 
Cour  du  Louvre,  and  the  Nouveau  Louvre,  those 
great  wings  which  extend  to  the  west. 

The  curious  history  of  the  Louvre,  the  out- 
bursts of  enthusiasm  with  which  great  kings 
began  to  increase  the  buildings,  determined  that 
this  symbol  of  their  state  should  outshine  the 
chateaux  of  their  feudatories  and,  later,  the 
palaces  of  their  contemporaries ;  the  chill  waves 
of  indifference  which,  like  mist,  blotted  out  the 
Louvre  from  their  eyes  when  perhaps  a  fourth  of 
the  work  they  planned  was  finished,  all  combine 
to  make  the  present  pile  what  it  is.  And  when 
one  reflects  on  the  number  of  different  ambitious 
brains,  working  too  at  different  periods,  who 
wrought  their  will  on  the  Louvre,  its  harmony 
now  is  an  amazing  thing. 

The  beginnings  of  the  Louvre  as  we  know  it, 
though  not  as  we  see  it,  date  from  Philippe 
Auguste  (1180-1223),  who  built  the  Grosse 
Tour  to  be  a  symbol  of  his  power.  Perhaps  he 
built  on  the  site  of  a  royal  hunting  box;  more 
probably  the  Louvre  was  already  a  small  fortified 
place ;  but  as  an  important  building  of  the  king 
the  Louvre  dates  only  from  his  reign.  Strange 
though  it  is,  the  origin  of  the  Louvre  is  wrapped 

12 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

in  more  uncertainty  than  that  which  reveals  the 
origin  of  many  a  building  of  an  antiquity  as 
immensely  greater  as  that  of  Egypt.  Even  the 
origin  of  its  name  is  matter  for  conjecture.  Per- 
haps it  is  derived  from  the  name  of  some  forgotten 
man  bearing  the  then  common  name  of  Lupus 
or  Loup,  who  dwelt  on  the  site  of  the  Louvre, 
perhaps  from  the  word  Louveterie,  meaning  a  den 
of  wolves,  or  from  Leouar  or  Lower,  a  fortress. 
No  one  can  say  with  authority. 

At  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  Philippe 
Auguste  determined  to  enlarge  the  wall  surround- 
ing Paris,  the  wall  built  by  Louis  le  Gros ;  and 
to  complete  the  defence  of  his  town  on  the  river 
side — the  side  by  which  the  Norman  invaders 
generally  appeared,  ready  to  slay  and  burn  until 
bought  off  by  the  unhappy  Parisians.  He  built 
the  strong  fortress  of  the  Louvre,  destined  to 
be  in  turn  fortress,  chateau,  palace  and  emblem  of 
the  people's  sovereign  power. 

In  the  Cour  du  Louvre,  on  the  pavement,  are 
white  lines  which  trace  in  part  the  outlines  of 
this  Louvre  of  Philippe  Auguste  and  Charles  V. ; 
and  deep  down  below  the  Louvre,  yet  curiously 
dry  and  warm,  are  still  to  be  seen  the  great 
substructures  of  the  fortress,  immense  supporting 

13 


THE    LOUVRE 

walls  which  hardly  show  the  disintegrating 
influence  of  time,  and  which  form  the  substruc- 
ture of  part  of  the  later  Louvre  of  Lescot.1 

The  Grosse  Tour,  built  about  1204,  and 
dominating  the  fortress,  lay,  surrounded  by  a  moat, 
in  the  centre  of  a  courtyard  about  a  quarter  of 
the  size  of  the  present  court.  Great  and  sullen 
stood  the  tower,  its  huge  walls,  thirteen  feet 
thick,  rose  to  a  height  of  sixteen  fathoms  from 
the  ground,  and  then  began  the  spring  of  the 
high-pitched  roof.  Eight  barred  windows  admitted 
the  light,  and  the  tower,  in  which  was  a  well,  a 
chapel,  and  several  rooms,  formed  the  innermost 
fortress;  a  fortress  under  separate  command,  which 
might  yet  hope  to  stand  when  the  fortress 
encircling  it  fell.  The  courtyard  round  it  was 
itself  protected  by  its  heavy  walls  and  the  round 
towers  at  the  angles,  while  between  it  and  the 
river  lay  a  smaller  fortified  court  with  a  gate  on 
the  river,  which  washed  its  very  walls. 

The  Grosse  Tour  was  indeed  the  last  safehold 
of  the  king,  in  which  he  kept  those  things  which 

1  Permission  to  see  these  substructures  is  given  on  ap- 
plication by  letter,  enclosing  stamp,  to  the  Secretariat  des 
Musees  Nationaux,  Cour  du  Louvre.  The  visit  can  only  be 
made  between  one  and  three  o'clock  on  Mondays. 

14 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

were  of  supreme  importance  to  him — great 
prisoners,  jewels,  furniture,  hangings,  all  of  the 
rarest ;  here  were  those  tapestries  and  ornaments 
used  in  turn  to  adorn  the  king's  rooms,  here  in 
fact  everything  which  the  king  most  valued  lay, 
under  the  care  of  a  trusted  captain :  but  every- 
thing in  the  structure  showed  that  the  Louvre 
was  a  strong  box  for  the  king,  rather  than  a 
dwelling. 

Ferrand,  comte  de  Flandre,  taken  prisoner  at 
the  battle  of  Bou vines,  was  the  first  of  a  long 
series  of  illustrious  prisoners  kept  here,  the  last 
being  Jean  II.,  due  d'Alei^on,  imprisoned  by 
Louis  XI.  (1461-1483).  There  is  a  curious  picture 
still  existing  of  the  unfortunate  comte  de  Flandre 
being  conveyed  to  the  Louvre  in  a  cart,  while  in 
the  foreground  an  excited  populace  gesticulate 
wildly;  from  the  Louvre  come  pacing  slowly  a 
group  of  churchmen,  apparently  to  welcome  the 
prisoner,  on  whose  angular  countenance  is 
pictured  the  liveliest  dismay. 

All  or  most  of  these  prisoners  were  important 
feudatories ;  who  learnt  to  acknowledge  the 
supremacy  of  the  king  as  head  of  all  the  fiefs 
immediately  depending  on  the  French  Crown, 
by  an  enforced  sojourn  in  his  tower.  Indeed  the 

15 


THE   LOUVRE 

Louvre  '  came  by  degrees  to  be  the  home  of  the 
monarchy  in  its  feudal  character/ 

The  kings  who  followed  Philippe  Auguste, 
while  they  kept  up  the  strength  of  the  Louvre 
as  a  fortress,  lived  there  but  rarely ;  their 
palace  was  on  the  Cite.  Louis  IX.  (Saint  Louis, 
1226-1270)  built  a  great  hall  where  the  Salle  des 
Cariatides  now  is ;  and  in  1 303  this  hall  was  used 
for  what  was,  in  effect,  the  first  etats  glneraux\ 
for  Philippe  le  Bel  (1285-1314)  convoked  a 
meeting  of  the  barons,  clergy  and  lawyers,  similar 
to  a  meeting  held  the  same  year  in  Notre  Dame. 
It  is  claimed  therefore  that,  with  Notre  Dame, 
the  Louvre  is  fthe  cradle  of  representative 
government  in  France/  a  claim  to  distinction 
which  will  be  unequally  appreciated  ! 

In  1313  the  same  hall  was  used  for  the  splen- 
did fetes  given  by  Philippe  le  Bel  in  honour  of 
his  three  sons.  Edward  of  England,  with  his  wife 
Isabelle,  attended  by  a  gorgeous  retinue,  were 
present  at  the  festivities,  at  the  jousting,  and  at 
the  splendid  banquet  which  followed  it,  what 
time  the  herald  Montjoie  distributed  largess  to 
the  crowd. 

But  for  all  its  fame  as  a  fortress,  a  fortress 
believed  impregnable,  Etienne  Marcel,  prevot  des 
16 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

marchandsj  champion  of  the  people,  found  no 
difficulty  in  taking  it  when,  during  the  reign  of 
John  le  Bon  (1350-1364),  he  wished  to  obtain 
possession  of  the  arms  stored  therein.  Marcel 
took  advantage  too  of  his  temporary  control  of 
the  Louvre  to  close  the  river  gate,  and  open  one 
on  the  side  facing  St  Germain  1'Auxerrois.  A 
prudent  man,  doubtless,  who  judged  it  well  to  have 
his  king  under  his  hand ! 

From  that  time  onwards  the  character  of  the 
Louvre  changed :  it  became  less  the  fortress, 
more  the  palace ;  as  a  fortress  it  had  proved 
itself  lamentably  deficient  when  the  struggle 
came.  Charles  V.  (1364-1380),  warned  by  his 
struggle  with  Etienne  Marcel,  realised  the  advant- 
age of  a  palace  less  in  the  centre  of  his  turbulent 
Parisians  than  his  palace  on  the  Cite  ;  a  palace 
in  fact,  like  the  Louvre,  on  the  edge  of  Paris, 
from  which  he  could  escape  more  easily.  Charles 
V., ( se  demonstra  vray  architecteur,  deviseur  certain  et 
prudent  ordeneur,'  according  to  Christine  de  Pisan, 
and  enlarged  and  beautified  the  Louvre ;  letting 
in  light  and  air  on  the  inner  sides  of  his  courtyard, 
while  the  outer  side  was  left  to  stare  grimly 
over  Paris.  There  is  extant  a  miniature  from  the 
'  Grandes  Heures  du  due  de  Berry '  which  shows 

B  17 


THE    LOUVRE 

the  Louvre  of  Charles  V.  By  the  river  rose  a 
high  battlemented  wall  with  circular  towers, 
within  which  was  a  marvellous  square  pile,  a 
mass  of  walls  and  towers  with  small  windows  and 
high  chimney-stacks.  From  the  centre  sprang 
the  Grosse  Tour,  threatened  not  yet.  High  steep- 
pitched  roofs,  crowned  with  huge  gilded  weather- 
cocks, clove  the  sky.  In  the  courtyard  Raymond 
du  Temple  built  for  the  king  a  magnificent 
staircase,  and  the  king's  library  was  installed  in 
the  Louvre,  that  library  which  was  the  origin  of 
the  present  Bibliotheque  Nationale.  Three  rooms 
in  the  Tour  de  la  Fauconnerie,  which  then 
became  known  as  the  Tour  de  la  Librarie,  were 
given  up  to  it,  and  the  books  collected  by  this 
enlightened  king  were  one  of  the  glories  of  the 
Louvre.  But  indeed  Tostel'  of  the  king,  during 
this  reign  was  a  magnificent  place,  where  in  a 
week  one  hundred  and  twenty  sheep,  ten  oxen, 
sixteen  calves,  six  hundred  fowls,  and  other  birds 
innumerable  were  needed  to  feed  the  court.  True 
these  figures  include  all  his  palaces,  but  by  far 
the  greater  part  were  for  the  Louvre.  But  so  fine 
a  court  meant  a  great  service,  and  servants' 
quarters  began  to  spread  out  round  the  Louvre. 
Space  was  needed  for  his  guard,  and  there  were 
18 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

other  departments  to  be  housed,  la  patisserie,  la 
sausserie,  I'epicerie,  la  fruiterie,  la  distillerie,  la 
lavanderie,  la  charbonnerie,  and  many  others.  All 
this  world  lay  surrounded  by  great  gardens, 
spreading  out  especially  on  the  side  farthest 
from  the  river. 

But  with  the  death  of  Charles  V.  the  Louvre 
ceased  for  a  time  to  enjoy  the  royal  favour. 
Charles  VI.  (1380-1422)  left  it  for  the  Hotel  St 
Pol.  Indeed  always  the  Louvre  was  only  one  of 
many  residences,  the  earlier  kings  were  oftener 
away  from  Paris  than  in  it,  while  later  kings  built 
for  themselves  other  palaces  in  Paris  itself,  which 
shared  their  presence  with  the  Louvre. 

During  the  struggle  between  the  Armagnacs 
and  Bourguignons  the  Dauphin,  afterwards 
Charles  VII.  (1422-1461),  threw  himself  for  refuge 
into  the  Louvre,  still  a  fortress  at  heart,  despite 
the  work  of  Charles  V. ;  but  again  it  proved 
useless  against  an  attack,  and  Jean-sans-Peur 
seized  the  citadel,  the  Dauphin  only  owing  his 
escape  to  Tanneguy  du  Chatel. 

The  English,  too,  when  they  occupied  Paris 
in  1421,  found  their  way  easily  enough  into  the 
Louvre,  and  Henry  V.  feasted  in  the  great  hall 
of  St  Louis.  In  1422  he  celebrated  Pentecote 

19 


THE    LOUVRE 

there,  and  presided  with  his  queen,  Catherine  de 
France,  at  a  great  banquet.  The  Grosse  Tour 
still  held  the  chief  jewels  of  the  Crown,  but 
later  the  regent,  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  removed 
them  to  the  Hotel  St  Pol,  that  they  might  be 
more  under  his  control.  The  great  library  too  of 
Charles  V.,  already  lessened  by  neglect,  was  further 
reduced  by  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  until  from  the 
collection  of  twelve  hundred  volumes  but  fifty 
remained.  And  so  with  the  rich  furnishings  of  the 
Louvre,  all  were  removed  ;  its  glory  was  departing. 

From  this  time  onwards  the  Louvre  enjoyed  no 
royal  favour;  Charles  VIII.  (1483-1498)  neglected 
it  utterly,  Louis  XII.  (1498-1515)  only  repaired  it, 
and  collected  arms  and  powder  therein,  making 
a  strong  arsenal. 

But  under  Fra^ois  Ier  (1515-1547)  the  Louvre 
began  its  second  life.  Like  Charles  V.  he  appre- 
ciated its  position,  saw  its  vast  possibilities,  and 
decided  to  make  of  it  such  a  palace  as  those  of 
Italy ;  a  palace  worthy  of  his  importance,  more 
in  harmony  with  his  taste  and  that  of  the  age. 

Not  yet  was  a  king  of  France  prepared  to  tear 

down  the  defences  which  stood  between  him  and 

his  faithful  subjects,  but  the  Grosse  Tour  might 

go.  It  had  not  proved  itself  capable  of  resistance 

20 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

when  the  outer  fortress  fell,  and  the  king's  Italian 
bent,  showing  itself  in  his  love  of  light  and  beauty, 
determined  him  to  demolish  this  great  tower,  and 
also  the  walls  by  the  river.  To  him  they  seemed 
to  throw  gloom  and  depression  over  what  he 
designed  to  make  a  great  palace.  So  in  1 527  the 
Grosse  Tour  began  to  fall,  a  fall  which  took  five 
months  to  complete  and  cost  £2500. 

Its  end  marked  an  epoch  in  French  history. 
No  longer  was  this  symbol  of  the  king's  suzerain 
power  needed,  all  men  were  to  be  subject  to  the 
king,  who  was  to  stand  far  above  his  nobles, 
instead  of  being  the  first  among  his  peers.  The 
feudal  system  was  falling,  and  so  also  began  to 
fall  the  oldest  Louvre. 

That  great  mass  of  Gothic  buildings  which 
huddled  under  the  shelter  of  the  tower  began  to 
vanish  before  the  Renaissance  spirit  which  was 
rising  round  the  doomed  Gothic  edifices  of  mediae- 
val Paris.  By  the  river,  in  place  of  the  heavy  walls, 
were  open  spaces,  arranged  for  tilting ;  and  here 
in  1531  was  held  a  tournament  in  honour  of 
Elenore  d'Autriche.  Then,  to  honour  Charles- 
Quint,  Fran9ois  Ier  decided  to  hold  another  fete 
which  should  surpass  everything  yet  seen. 
Thousands  of  workmen  were  employed  to  paint 
21 


THE    LOUVRE 

frescoes,,  to  cover  the  walls  with  rich  tapestry,  and 
to  gild  profusely  to  the  very  weathercocks.  The 
Louvre  of  Charles  V.  disappeared  under  a  wealth 
of  ornament.  Rooms  hung  with  silk,  and  glittering 
with  gilt,  formed  the  setting  for  a  court  scene  of 
unparalleled  magnificence.  All  night  in  the  centre 
of  the  courtyard  blazed  a  great  torch,  held  aloft 
by  a  gilded  Vulcan. 

This  was  the  last  fete  the  mediaeval  Louvre  was 
to  see,  for  Fra^ois  Ier  realised  that  the  palace, 
to  meet  his  wishes,  must  be  rebuilt.  To  this  end, 
on  the  2nd  August  1546,  he  commissioned  Pierre 
Lescot  to  superintend  the  work  of  building  the 
new  Louvre,  beginning  in  the  south-west  corner 
of  the  Cour  du  Louvre.  The  moment  was  ripe  for 
the  making  of  a  new  palace  of  the  first  im- 
portance :  the  Renaissance  was  at  its  zenith ; 
Gothic  tendencies  were  lost  in  the  full  flood  of 
Renaissance  work. 

The  sad  work  of  pulling  down  the  Grande 
Salle  of  St  Louis  began,  and  that  work  on  the 
Cour  du  Louvre  was  started  which  was  only 
completed  under  Louis  XIV.  The  plans  of 
Lescot  provided  for  a  court  much  the  size  of  the 
original  court,  a  quarter  of  its  present  size,  resting 
on  the  foundations  of  Philippe  Auguste.  That 

22 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

part  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre  which  we  owe  to 
Lescot  is  the  most  gracious  and  charming  part 
of  the  whole  building,  and  that  which  shows  best 
the  spirit  of  the  French  Renaissance,  of  which 
it  is  a  veritable  triumph.  It  extends  between  the 
Pavilion  de  1'Horloge  and  the  Pavilion  des  Arts, 
being  the  south-west  corner.  After  the  death  of 
Fran9ois  Ier,  Lescot  continued  his  work  under 
Henri  II.  (1547-1559).  The  west  portion  of  his 
work  was  finished  in  1548,  that  on  the  south 
side  only  in  1566.  Lescot's  idea  was  to  make 
the  interior  of  the  courtyard  full  of  life  and 
gaiety,  while  his  exterior  walls,  now  masked, 
carried  on  the  old  French  tradition  of  external 
strength  and  severity.  The  harmony  of  the 
whole  effect,  and  the  skill  with  which  any 
monotony  of  the  lines  is  avoided,  make  it  a 
perfect  fa9ade ;  the  south  side  has  unhappily 
suffered  from  the  addition  of  an  extra  story. 
The  beautiful  decorations  and  sculptures  of  the 
fa£ade  were  entrusted  to  Jean  Goujon  and  Paul 
Ponce.  In  Lescot's  building  as  originally  planned 
there  was  a  pavilion  in  the  south-west  corner, 
called  the  Pavilion  Henri  II.,  which  was  unhappily 
pulled  down  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
superb  woodwork  of  the  king's  rooms,  which  were 


THE   LOUVRE 

in  this  pavilion,  have  been  put  up  on  the  first  floor 
of  the  Cour  du  Louvre,  on  the  east  side ;  and 
this  '  Chambre  de  Paradis,'  with  the  two  rooms 
next  it,  give  one  some  idea  of  what  the  Louvre 
of  Lescot  looked  like  internally.  'La  Chambre 
de  Paradis/  dated  1559,  is  as  magnificent  and 
beautiful  an  example  of  a  carved  room  as  perhaps 
exists  ;  the  H.  and  D.,  standing  for  Henri  II.  and 
Diane  de  Poictiers,  is  noteworthy,  often  repeated 
in  the  intricate  and  beautiful  wood-carving.  The 
next  room,  which  dates  from  1603,  is  a  room 
almost  equally  fine,  with  woodwork  from  the 
rooms  of  Henri  II.,  and  also  of  the  period  Louis 
XIV.  The  curtains  of  the  alcove,  in  which  is 
placed  a  Venetian  state  bed  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  are  upheld  by  charming  cupids  by  Gilles 
Guerin,  while  the  slaves  and  trophies  of  the  ceiling 
are  the  work  of  Girardon.  The  third  room,  which 
bears  the  date  1654,  also  owes  its  panelling  in  part 
to  the  apartments  of  the  king,  in  part  to  panelling 
from  the  rooms  of  Anne  d'  Autriche  at  Vincennes. 
The  ceiling  bears  her  initials,  A.  D.,  enclosed 
in  elaborate  and  delicate  tracery,  with  cupids, 
birds  and  flowers  delicately  touched  with  gilding, 
a  perfect  ceiling. 

On  the  first  floor  of  the  Pavilion  Henri  II.  was 

24 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

the  king's  bedroom.  An  antechamber  lay  between 
it  and  the  Salle  d'Attente,  now  the  Salle  La 
Caze.  The  Staircase  Henri  II.,  leading  to  the 
Salle  Le  Caze,  is  almost  entirely,  as  to  its  decora- 
tion, the  work  of  Jean  Goujon. 

The  Salle  des  Cariatides,  named  after  the 
statues  by  Jean  Goujon  which  form  part  of  its 
internal  structure,  was  built  on  the  site  of  the 
great  hall  of  St  Louis.  Under  Henri  II.  it  was 
used  for  the  great  court  functions,  the  first 
festivity  held  there  being  the  marriage  of  Claude, 
the  king's  daughter,  to  the  due  de  Lorraine  in 
1558.  The  fetes  attending  the  marriage  of  the 
Dauphin  Fra^ois  and  Marie  Stuart  followed, 
for  which  the  hall  was  most  gorgeously  decorated. 
In  1559  the  betrothal  of  Elizabeth  de  France, 
also  a  daughter  of  Henri  II.,  took  place  with  that 
gloomy  widower  Philippe  II.  of  Spain ;  who  was 
represented  by  the  Duke  of  Alba,  gorgeous  in 
cloth  of  gold.  But  in  the  tournament  which 
followed  the  betrothal  Henri  II.  was  mortally 
wounded,  jousting  with  Montgomery  of  the 
Scottish  Guard,  at  the  Hotel  des  Tournelles, 
another  of  his  palaces  in  Paris. 

How  curious  a  building  the  Louvre  of  Henri  II. 
was  can  be  realised  when  one  reflects  that  the 

25 


THE   LOUVRE 

Renaissance  work  of  Lescot  on  the  south  and  west 
faced  the  Gothic  work  of  the  older  Louvre,  which 
still  formed  the  further  side  of  the  court ;  this 
Gothic  work,  with  its  round  towers  and  pointed 
roofs,  being  in  strong  contrast  to  the  low  regular 
lines  of  the  Renaissance  work,  with  its  classical 
outline. 

After  the  death  of  Henri  II.  his  widow, 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  installed  herself  in  the 
Louvre ;  where  however  she  cared  little  to 
continue  the  work  of  Henri  II.,  or  even  to  com- 
plete it  thoroughly.  The  work  on  the  Escalier 
Henri  II.  was  never  finished.  Indeed,  instead 
of  completing  the  court  on  the  plans  of  Lescot, 
she  began  to  build  away  from  the  south-west 
corner  of  the  Louvre  to  the  river,  employing, 
according  to  one  authority,  a  nameless  Italian 
as  architect,  while  another  authority  has  it  that 
one  Pierre  Cambiges  built  for  her.  This  Petite 
Galerie,  at  first  of  only  one  story,  more  a  portico 
of  marble  than  a  closed-in  building,  is  now  the 
ground  floor  of  the  Galerie  d'Apollon.  Whoever 
her  architect  was,  he  kept  the  building  in 
harmony  with  Lescot's  work.  Catherine  built 
also  the  Palace  of  the  Tuileries,  and  turned  at 
right  angles  from  her  Petite  Galerie  along  the 
26 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

river,  having  the  ambitious  idea  of  connecting 
the  two.  To  her  is  due  the  Salles  des  Antiques, 
under  the  Salon  Carre,  and  the  ground  floor  of 
the  Grande  Galerie  as  far  as  the  Pavilion  de 
Lesdiquieres. 

The  Palace  of  the  Tuileries,  of  which  only  the 
south  wing  remains,  now  forming  part  of  the 
Louvre,  lay  between  the  Pavilion  de  Flore  and 
the  Pavilion  de  Marsan.  Philibert  Delorme  and 
Bullant  were  the  architects  of  this  palace. 

When  the  work  of  Lescot  on  the  Cour  du 
Louvre  was  finished,  Charles  IX.  (1560-1574)  took 
up  his  abode  there  for  the  winter  months,  on  the 
first  floor;  while  on  the  ground  floor  the  queen- 
mother,  Catherine  de  Medicis,  was  installed,  in 
the  rooms  now  given  over  to  antique  sculpture. 
Italian  comedy,  ballets,  every  kind  of  amusement 
took  place  in  the  Louvre,  which  was  again  the 
central  scene  in  which  the  monarchy  played  its 
part.  But  then  came  the  Massacre  of  St 
Bartholomew,  which  cast  over  the  building  a 
gloom  from  which  Charles  IX.  strove  in  vain  to 
escape. 

At  the  river  end  of  the  Petite  Galerie  is  shown 
a  window  from  which  Charles  IX.  is  said  to  have 
fired  on  the  doomed  Huguenots  as  they  swam  the 
27 


THE    LOUVRE 

Seine — a  piece  of  picturesque  history  disputed 
by  those  who  say  the  window  was  not  then  made. 
Under  Henri  III.  (1574-1589)  the  building 
hardly  progressed,  but  the  Louvre  formed  a 
centre  for  the  fetes  and  gaieties  dear  to  this 
fantastic  king,  whose  balls  and  entertainments 
were  celebrated  throughout  Europe.  But  amid 
all  the  gaiety  of  the  court,  treason  and  trouble 
walked  abroad  :  Catherine  de  Medicis  caused  all 
the  entrances  to  the  Louvre  to  be  closed,  except 
the  principal  one  on  the  east,  as  if  she  would 
again  prepare  it  for  its  old  role  of  fortress.  But 
even  so  Henri  III.  could  not  face  the  due  de 
Guise  and  the  Parisians  when  Paris  rose  in  1588  ; 
and  after  preparing  for  defence  he  abandoned 
the  Louvre  suddenly,  and  took  refuge  in  flight ; 
never  to  return  to  Paris,  leaving  the  Louvre  to 
the  power  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Ligue.  It  was 
in  the  Louvre  that  the  due  de  Mayenne  called 
a  council,  and  had  four  of  the  most  guilty  of  the 
*  Seize'  hung  in  December  1591,  for  the  murder 
of  President  Brisson  and  other  magistrates.  The 
Salle  des  Cariatides  was  the  scene  of  their  exe- 
cution, the  four  corpses  swinging  from  the  joists 
of  the  ceiling.  In  the  Louvre,  too,  Mayenne 
convoked  the  etats  generaux  in  1593,  when  an 
28 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

attempt  was  made  to  choose  a  Catholic  king, 
Henri  III.  having  been  assassinated  in  1589. 
But  the  deliberations  of  the  etats  generaux  ended 
in  smoke  ;  the  conversion  of  Henri  IV.  (1589-1610) 
paved  the  way  for  his  return,  and  on  the  22nd  of 
March  1594  he  entered  Paris,  to  take  up  his  abode 
at  the  Louvre. 

When  Henri  IV.  entered  Paris  one  of  his  first 
aims  was  to  carry  forward  the  building  of  the 
Louvre,  which  war  and  trouble  had  so  stopped. 
He  conceived  the  idea  of  enlarging  the  Cour  du 
Louvre  so  that  the  work  of  Lescot  should  form 
only  half  of  each  side,  thereby  making  the  court 
four  times  as  large.  He  also  decided  to  join  the 
Louvre  and  the  Tuileries,  though  his  death 
prevented  the  conclusion  of  all  these  plans.  He 
placed  in  the  hands  of  Metezeau  and  Androuet 
du  Cerceau  the  task  of  completing  the  work  left 
unfinished  by  Catherine  de  Medicis.  They  built  a 
second  story  over  the  portico  called  the  Petite 
Galerie,  a  story  now  the  Galerie  d'Apollon,  but 
first  called  the  Galerie  des  Rois.  This  part  is 
however  sometimes  ascribed  to  Isa'ie  Fournier, 
and  an  Englishman  Moryson,  while  another 
account  ascribes  it  to  Fournier  and  Coing.  The 
figures  in  the  arcades  formed  by  the  ground- 
29 


THE    LOUVRE 

floor  windows,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Petite 
Galerie,  are  probably  the  work  of  Barthelemy 
Prieur,  and  represent  Fame  and  the  Genii.  The 
Salle  des  Antiques,  the  block  between  the 
Galerie  d'Apollon  and  the  Grande  Galerie,  also 
received  an  extra  story. 

Almost  certainly  to  Metezeau  and  Androuet 
du  Cerceau  we  owe  the  beautiful  section  of  the 
Grande  Galerie  which  extends  to  the  Pavilion 
des  Lesdiquieres,  of  which  Catherine  de  Medicis 
had  only  built  the  ground  floor ;  though  the 
name  of  Etienne  Duperac  is  a  possible  one  as 
architect.  This  part  of  the  Grande  Galerie  is 
formed  of  two  orders,  separated  by  an  entresol, 
which  enabled  the  architects  to  get  their  work 
and  that  of  Catherine  de  Medicis  into  harmony. 
This  low  entresol,  so  Florentine  in  character,  and 
bearing  the  initial  of  Henri  IV.,  cannot  be  too 
highly  praised,  and  the  facade  is  justly  considered 
as  hardly  second  in  beauty  to  the  west  side  of  the 
Cour  du  Louvre.  The  decorative  work  is  unusually 
fine,  clearly  that  of  masters  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  almost  certainly  Pierre  and  Francois 
Lheureux,  aided  perhaps  by  Barthelemy  Prieur. 
To  attribute  the  splendid  Porte  Jean  Goujon 
to  the  sculptor  Jean  Goujon  is  clearly  wrong,  as 

30 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

it  is  so  much  later  than  his  time.  This  magnificent 
gateway,  restored  by  Duban,  with  its  gilded 
balcony,  bears  the  crown  and  the  initial  H.,  which 
is  indeed  cunningly  worked  into  all  the  decora- 
tion on  this  part  of  the  building.  But  as  a 
generalisation  nothing  is  more  misleading  in  the 
Louvre  than  the  initials  which  are  employed  on 
the  stonework  of  the  building.  Later  kings  have 
cut  out  the  initials  of  their  predecessors  to  sub- 
stitute their  own  ;  the  Revolution  further  increased 
the  trouble,  and  now  the  result  is  very  bewilder- 
ing. 

The  western  section  of  the  Grande  Galerie, 
which  lies  between  the  Pavilion  de  La  Tremoille 
and  the  Pavilion  de  Flore,  and  also  the  latter, 
which  with  the  extreme  western  end  of  the  Grande 
Galerie  are  really  part  of  the  Tuileries,  was  also 
built  under  Henri  IV.  by  Androuet  du  Cerceau. 
It  is  in  one  style  of  architecture,  correct  and 
frigid,  showing  the  new  tendency  in  French 
architecture  towards  a  style  more  grandiose  and 
ceremonious,  but  far  less  attractive,  than  that  of 
the  eastern  section.  It  was  remodelled  by  Lefuel 
from  1863-1868,  but  many  of  the  original 
features  remain. 

The  entresol  of  the  eastern  half  of  the  Grande 


THE   LOUVRE 

Galerie  was  the  home  of  that  band  of  brilliant 
artists  and  craftsmen  whom  Henri  IV.  collected 
round  him,  to  form  a  school  of  artists  valuable 
to  the  Crown  and  to  France.  Workers  in  precious 
stones,  tapestry-workers,  engravers,  wood-carvers, 
armourers  were  all  granted  quarters  here,  by  a 
king  alike  generous  and  politic.  But  the  Louvre 
has  ever  been  a  cradle  of  art ;  few  were  the 
kings  who  did  not  carry  on  the  tradition  of 
fostering  the  arts.  Henri  IV.,  great  as  were  his 
plans  for  the  improvement  of  his  palace,  cared 
little  for  pomp  or  ceremony,  but  under  his  Italian 
wife,  Marie  de  Medicis,  the  Louvre  became  once 
more  a  centre  of  gaiety  and  ceremonial.  But  the 
death  of  Henri  IV.  closed  with  cruel  suddenness 
this  page  in  the  Louvre's  history ;  and  the  Salle 
des  Cariatides  saw,  with  the  clear  eyes  of 
inanimate  objects,  yet  another  extraordinary 
scene.  For  in  this  salle,  the  scene  of  so  many 
brilliant  fetes,  the  wax  image1  of  the  murdered 
king  lay  in  state.  The  effigy  was  exposed,  for 
eleven  days,  on  a  bed  covered  with  cloth  of  gold, 
and  with  candles  burning  round  it.  The  walls 
were  hung  with  golden  hangings,  in  the  windows 
were  placed  altars,  where  daily  a  hundred  masses 
1  Now  in  the  Carnavalet. 
32 


1 1  r 


a 
3 

s 

< 
O 
« 

Q 

'  ^ 
< 
C^ 

O 
a 

H 


f 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

were  said  for  the  soul  of  the  only  king  who  ever 
died  in  the  Louvre.  The  effigy  was  dressed  like 
the  living  king,  a  top  of  satin  cramoisy  was 
covered  by  a  tunic  of  azure  satin  worked  with 
the  fleur-de-lis,,  and  over  all  spread  a  royal  mantle 
of  cramoisy-violet  velvet,  embroidered  with  the 
fleur-de-lis,,  and  lined  with  ermine.  At  a  table 
near  this  bed  of  state  the  king's  meals  were 
served  in  such  grandeur  as  he  enjoyed  living,  and 
the  dishes  were  presented,  but  in  profound 
silence,  to  the  effigy.  At  the  end  of  eleven  days 
this  waxen  figure  was  moved,  and  placed  under 
the  recessed  end  of  the  salle ;  and  the  king's 
body  was  shown  in  a  coffin  covered  with  cloth 
of  gold,  on  which  was  a  cross  of  white  satin, 
surmounted  by  a  golden  crown.  The  golden 
hangings  on  the  walls  were  replaced  by  black 
hangings.  Paris  mourned  a  great  king. 

Always  the  old  buildings  continued  to  crumble 
away,  as  each  monarch  built  and  rearranged  the 
Louvre  to  suit  the  growing  power  of  the  Crown. 
Under  Louis  XIII.  (1610-1643)  little  remained 
but  the  north  and  east  side  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre, 
and  these  Richelieu  pulled  down,  together  with 
the  tower  which  had  held  the  library  of 
Charles  V.,  and  the  splendid  staircase  of 

c  33 


THE   LOUVRE 

Raymond  du  Temple.  The  work  of  reconstruction 
was  entrusted  to  Jacques  Lemercier,  and  it  was 
definitely  decided  to  make  the  court  four  times 
as  large  as  that  planned  by  Pierre  Lescot.  The 
change  was  rendered  necessary  by  the  growing 
power  of  the  king,  and  hurried  on  by  the 
ambition  of  Richelieu.  No  longer  was  the  king 
the  first  among  the  seigneurs,  needing  only  a 
chateau  more  elegant  and  powerful  than  those 
of  his  almost  peers :  he  was  the  sovereign,  to  be 
removed  high  above  his  nobles,  and  the  supreme 
magnificence  of  his  palace  was  as  an  outward 
sign. 

Lernercier  built  the  Pavilion  de  1'Horloge, 
and  continued  the  west  wing,  of  which  Lescot's 
section  could  now  only  form  half.  But  he  was 
careful  to  keep  his  work  in  harmony  with  that 
of  Lescot,  making  indeed  a  replica  of  Lescot's 
work,  but  for  the  Pavilion  de  1'Horloge.  Sarazin 
was  the  sculptor  of  the  fine  and  dignified  cary- 
atides which  appear  on  the  upper  story  of  this 
domed  pavilion.  In  the  north-west  corner  of  the 
Cour  du  Louvre,  Lemercier  built  a  pavilion  to 
match  the  Pavilion  Henri  II.  Both  have  been 
destroyed.  Lemercier  began  to  build  also  along 
the  north  side  of  the  court,  and  reached  the 

34 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

Pavilion  Marengo  before  Louis  XIII.  died,  in 
1643 ;  then  the  work  on  the  Louvre  continued 
very  slowly,  until  the  war  of  the  Fronde  brought 
everything  to  a  standstill. 

Though  Louis  XIV.  (1643-1715)  came  with  his 
mother  to  the  Louvre  almost  immediately  after 
the  death  of  Louis  XIII.,  a  king  who  lived  but 
little  in  the  Louvre,  the  court  was  transferred 
almost  at  once  to  the  Palais  Cardinal,  now  the 
Palais  Royal,  in  which  Louis  XIV.  lived  during 
his  minority.  Again  the  Louvre  seemed  given 
over  to  neglect  from  the  court,  and  was  occupied 
by  artists  and  craftsmen.  The  royal  mint  was 
installed,  and  in  1648  Theophraste  Renaudot 
began  to  publish  the  Gazelle  from  the  Louvre, 
a  publication  which  continued  for  over  a  century. 

Henriette  de  France,  Queen  of  England,  was 
granted  rooms  in  the  Louvre  during  her  exile, 
occupying  the  apartments  of  the  Queen-mother 
on  the  ground  floor,  rooms  put  at  her  disposal 
with  much  ceremony.  Despite  which,  on  occasion, 
during  the  troubles  of  the  Fronde,  such  chaos 
reigned  that  the  hapless  queen,  unable  to  get 
her  apartments  warmed,  had  to  keep  her  bed 
to  avoid  the  piercing  cold  ! 

But   when    Louis   XIV.    came    in   triumph   to 

35 


THE   LOUVRE 

Paris  the  Louvre  was  itself  again :  and  on 
the  21st  October  1 652  he  took  up  his  official 
residence  there.  Anne  d'Autriche  took  the  apart- 
ments of  the  Queen-mother  in  the  south-west 
half  of  the  south  side  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre,  and 
transferred  the  Petite  Galerie  into  a  suite  of  five 
magnificent  rooms,  ornamented  with  sculptures 
and  pictures.  The  fine  ceilings,  decorated  in 
gold  for  her,  remain ;  the  marvellous  bathroom, 
which  Lemercier  arranged  for  her,  has  disap- 
peared— a  bathroom  splendid  in  marble,  gold  and 
enamel,  with  a  floor  of  scented  wood.  The  great 
marble  bath,  the  bronze  columns  with  gilded 
capitals,  and  the  frescoes  by  Le  Sueur  made  the 
room  a  marvel. 

The  king's  apartments  on  the  first  floor  were 
also  enlarged,  and  a  new  wing  was  built,  the 
fa£ade  of  which  is  visible  from  the  Cour  du 
Sphinx.  It  was  entered  from  the  king's  apart- 
ments by  the  room  now  called  the  Rotonde 
d'Apollon. 

Mazarin  also  was  lodged  in  the  Louvre,  the 
king's  brother,  and  the  Princesse  Palatine :  all  lived 
in  state  in  this  great  palace.  Indeed  the  youth  of 
Louis  XIV.  was  a  pleasant  period ;  the  young 
king  loved  to  dance,  to  see  ballets,  the  specta- 

36 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

cular  was  dear  to  him  ;  and  the  Louvre  was  a 
centre  for  that  extreme  grandeur  which  already 
centred  round  the  Roi  Soleil.  In  1660  Moliere 
gave  his  '  Precieuses  ridicules/  and  'L'Etourdi,' 
in  the  Louvre.  On  l6th  February  l66l  the 
Galerie  des  Rois  was  arranged  for  a  magnificent 
ballet,  but  in  the  night  a  fierce  fire  broke  forth 
and  the  gallery  was  burnt  out.  Human  help 
seemed  to  avail  nothing  and  the  Saint-Sacrement 
was  brought  from  Saint  Germain  I'Auxerrois. 
The  king  and  queen,  attended  by  the  court, 
escorted  it  to  the  scene  of  the  fire,  the  wind 
changed,  and  the  dreaded  danger  of  the  fire 
spreading  was  over.  In  1666  Anne  d'Autriche 
died  in  the  Louvre,  the  only  queen  who  ever 
died  in  this  palace,  and  the  court  was  plunged 
into  profound  mourning. 

But  all  these  fetes  did  but  increase  the  distance 
between  the  king  and  his  great  subjects.  The 
king  became  absolute.  Yet  more  the  Louvre 
must  increase,  to  impress  and  to  afford  room  for 
the  great  court  which  surrounded  Louis  XIV. 
The  gate  on  the  eastern  side,  which  yet  remained 
from  the  Louvre  of  Philippe  Auguste,  fell,  and 
with  the  last  dust  of  its  falling  vanished  the 
feudal  age. 

37 


THE    LOUVRE 

The  work  of  Le  Vau  now  appears  on  the 
Louvre  at  several  different  points.  In  the  Cour 
du  Louvre  he  continued  on  the  north  side  the 
work  of  Lemercier,  like  Lemercier  following  in 
the  footsteps  of  Lescot.  On  the  south  side,  where 
he  was  also  building,  to  make  the  eastern  end 
of  this  south  wing,  he  broke  away,  however, 
from  the  plan  of  Lescot  to  build  in  the  centre 
the  Pavilion  des  Arts ;  an  imposing  domed 
structure,  which  no  longer  exists  as  to  its  domed 
roof.  He  also  broke  away  from  the  simplicity  of 
that  outer  side  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre  which 
faced  the  river,  to  make  a  front  more  in  accord- 
ance with  the  colossal  antique  style  of  building 
now  arising,  due  to  Italian  influence.  But  this 
introduction  of  his,  showing  how  grandiose  the 
building  might  become,  was  the  cause  of  his 
work  on  the  river  face  being  hidden  later  behind 
the  yet  more  grandiose  work  of  Perrault. 

His  work  on  the  north  and  south  side  was  not 
yet  completed  when  he  began  on  the  eastern 
side.  This  side,  which  was  to  contain  the  principal 
entrance,  was,  though  kept  in  sympathy  with 
the  other  three  sides,  to  be  rather  richer,  more 
decorated  as  to  the  external  face.  Louis  XIV. 
approved  the  plans,  the  Petit  Bourbon  and  other 

38 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

buildings  which  clustered  round  that  side  of  the 
Louvre  were  demolished,  the  foundations  were 
begun,  when  suddenly  Le  Vau  was  ordered  to 
stop  the  work,  which  the  king  found  not 
sufficiently  imposing.  So  to  Le  Vau  is  due  only 
that  face  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre  on  the  east 
which  faces  inwards. 

It  was  decided  that,  for  the  external  face,  the 
chief  approach  to  the  Louvre,  something  more 
imposing  must  be  sought  for ;  architects  were 
invited  to  submit  plans,  a  public  exposition  of 
their  work  was  opened,  but  no  conclusion  was 
arrived  at.  Rome,  then  the  centre  of  the  arts, 
was  appealed  to ;  and  there  all  the  plans  sub- 
mitted, especially  those  of  Le  Vau,  were  harshly 
criticised.  Colbert,  Louis  XIV.'s  minister,  favoured 
the  plans  of  Claude  Perrault,  and  as  they  were 
not  sent  to  Rome  they  escaped  the  withering 
breath  of  criticism. 

Finally  Louis  XIV.  decided  to  obtain  an  artist 
from  Italy,  as  France  failed,  and  the  king  sent 
an  autograph  letter  to  Bernini,  making  him  vast 
promises  if  he  would  leave  Italy  to  come  and 
complete  the  Louvre.  At  first  he  refused,  then 
accepted,  and  on  his  arrival  was  received  with 
great  pomp.  But  naturally  the  enmity  of  the 

39 


THE    LOUVRE 

French  architects  was  roused.  Perrault  began  to 
agitate,,  to  cabal,  to  draw  attention  again  to  his 
own  design.  Louis  XIV.  began  to  be  impatient, 
and  Bernini,  whose  foundations  were  already  dug, 
to  fret  under  the  cold  breath  of  a  criticism  he 
resented.  Charles  Perrault,  brother  of  Claude 
Perrault,  published  a  scathing  pamphlet  on  the 
immense  design  of  Bernini ;  and  the  latter  took 
advantage  of  the  excuse  offered  by  the  first  cold 
to  leave  France,  entrusting  his  work  to  his  pupil, 
Matteo  Rossi.  But  though  Bernini  retired  laden 
with  honours,  and  pensioned,  the  cabals  and 
intrigues  continued.  It  is  idle  to  say  by  what 
devious  channels  Louis  XIV.  and  public  opinion 
were  influenced,  but  the  result  was  the  shelving 
of  Bernini's  structure  ;  which  never  rose  beyond 
the  foundations.  Colbert  took  advantage  of  this 
change  of  mind  to  present  Claude  Perrault  to  the 
king,  and  though  Perrault' s  design  had  the  same 
drawbacks  as  that  of  Bernini,  its  grandiose 
character  appealed  to  the  king,  and  to  Perrault 
the  work  of  completing  the  exterior  of  the 
Cour  du  Louvre  was  entrusted.  The  design  of 
Perrault  broke  with  the  national  tradition  by 
substituting  a  single  colossal  order  for  the  orders 
which  are  seen  in  the  interior  of  the  court. 
40 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

In  place  of  the  gracious  lines  of  Lescot,  Perrault 
substituted  the  severe  lines  of  an  antique 
monument,  without  visible  roof.  And  though 
this  colonnade  of  the  Louvre  is  undoubtedly  a 
fine,  even  a  noble,  piece  of  work,  the  finest 
example  of  the  ordre  colossal  which  exists, 
it  is  to  be  deplored,  because  of  the  modification 
it  rendered  necessary,  to  make  other  parts  of 
the  building  accord  with  its  huge  proportions. 
The  interior  of  the  court  was  affected,  as  the 
height  of  the  colonnade  prevented  it  agreeing 
with  the  height  of  the  court  as  planned  by  Lescot. 
Le  Van  and  Le  Brim  were  both  associated  with 
Perrault  in  carrying  out  the  latter* s  design,  as 
he  was  not  considered  a  sufficiently  practical 
architect  to  be  entrusted  alone  with  so  important 
a  work.  Perrault  indeed  showed  himself  not 
desirous  of  reaping  large  sums  for  his  work,  he 
continued  to  receive  only  £2000  a  year  '  comme 
medicin  et  savant,'  and  only  in  1669  received  the 
sum  of  £l6()  e  pour  le  travail  el  I  application 
quil  a  donnes  mix  bailments.'  New  foundations 
were  dug,  and  the  work  was  being  executed 
from  1667  to  1674,  at  a  cost  of  500,000  francs 
a  year,  until  1671,  when  the  facade  was  structur- 
ally complete.  After  that  the  expense  fell  con- 


THE    LOUVRE 

siderably.  In  1674  the  two  immense  monolithic 
stones  which  form  the  pediment  were  raised 
into  place  by  a  complicated  arrangement,  of  which 
a  drawing  by  Sebastien  Leclerc  exists.  The  whole 
face  of  the  building  was  covered  with  a  net- 
work of  poles,  designed  to  help  raise  the  two 
huge  blocks.  From  1674  to  1676  Caffieri 
and  Lespagnaudel  were  carving  the  facade,  in 
particular  the  fine  Corinthian  capitals  designed 
by  Le  Brun;  but  the  colonnade  has  never  been 
carved  and  ornamented  to  the  extent  originally 
planned.  The  Victory  distributing  Crowns,  which 
appears  over  the  colonnade,  was  carved  in  1809 
by  Cartellier;  the  bust  of  Louis  le  Grand, 
dating  from  1811,  is  by  Lemot ;  Wisdom  and 
Victory  are  crowning  the  Roi  Soleil  in  this  huge 
bas-relief. 

Perrault's  colonnade,  when  finally  completed, 
was  found  to  project  towards  the  river  fifteen 
feet  beyond  the  river  face  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre, 
the  face  erected  by  Le  Van  :  it  became  therefore 
necessary  to  mask  this  face,  (to  bury  it  alive,' 
and  this  was  done.  The  present  coldly  classical 
fa9ade  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre,  facing  the  river, 
took  the  place  of  Le  Vau's  work  buried  behind 
it ;  but  the  roof  of  the  Pavilion  Henri  II.,  and 
42 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

Le  Vau's  dome  showed  above  the  pediment  of 
the  new  face,  until  they  were  pulled  down  con- 
siderably later,  the  dome  in  1759. 

The  colonnade  also  projected  towards  the 
rue  de  Rivoli,  but  this  projection  has  never  been 
concealed.  The  face  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre  looking 
over  the  rue  de  Rivoli,  begun  under  Perrault, 
carried  on  by  Gabriel  and  Soufflot,  was  only 
finished  by  Percier  and  Fontaine. 

But  even  while  the  work  was  going  on  the 
interest  of  Louis  XIV.  was  slackening,  until 
in  1676  the  work  stopped.  Even  the  Galerie 
d'Apollon,  which  was  built  on  the  ruined  Galerie 
des  Rois,  was  left  unfinished,  with  the  ceiling 
paintings  of  Le  Brun  half  completed.  The  roofs 
of  some  of  the  buildings  were  not  complete.  The 
reason  for  this  strange  change  of  plan,  by  which  the 
Louvre  was  plunged  again  into  that  neglect  which, 
varied  by  outbursts  of  royal  splendour,  has  ever 
been  its  lot,  lay  in  the  king.  He  needed  a  stage 
where  he  could  walk  less  surrounded  by  people  and 
things  which  might  intercept  heaven's  limelight, 
a  space  where  his  personality  would  show  up : 
he  withdrew  himself  to  Versailles,  the  Louvre 
was  obscured,  the  king  cared  no  longer.  The 
scaffolding  rotted  away,  green  creeping  plants 

43 


THE    LOUVRE 

covered  the  stonework,  parasitic  buildings  were 
built  up  against  the  colonnade,  everything  was 
at  a  standstill,  or  worse. 

One  thing  the  king  did  arrange,  carrying  out 
that  policy  which  had  ever  connected  the  Louvre 
with  art  or  learning :  the  Louvre  was  to  be  the 
home  of  various  learned  bodies ;  it  was  put  at 
the  disposal  of  the  academies.  Their  installa- 
tion was  hailed  as  marking  the  coming  of  a  new 
age :  the  supremacy  of  intelligence  over  brute 
force  was  established.  The  Academic  francaise  was 
installed  at  the  Louvre  in  1672,  and  there  three 
times  a  week  the  members  met  for  discussion  and 
work  on  the  Dictionnaire.  The  Academic  d'architec- 
ture  et  de  peinture  began  to  show  their  works  in 
the  Louvre,  at  first  capriciously,  but  then  at  periods 
which  tended  to  become  more  regular.  In  these 
exhibitions  of  pictures  lies  the  origin  of  the 
Salon.  In  1699  the  Grande  Galerie  was  placed 
at  their  disposal  by  Mansart,  Directeur  des  Bdti- 
ments  du  lloi.  In  I70f),  however,  they  held  the 
last  exhibition  hung  in  the  Louvre  until  1725, 
when  they  were  granted  the  use  of  the  Salon 
Carre  to  show  pictures. 

Colbert  induced  the  king  also  to  collect 
together  in  the  Louvre  some  of  the  fine  pictures 

44 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

belonging  to  the  Crown,  which  were  placed, 
closely  hung  in  seven  rooms,  among  them  the 
Salon  Carre  and  the  Galerie  d'Apollon.  Colbert 
also  instituted  the  Cabinet  des  Estampes,  from 
which  springs  the  present  Chalcographie.  A 
Cabinet  des  Livres,  to  which  a  copy  of  every  book 
published  in  the  kingdom  had  to  be  sent,  was  also 
installed ;  it  was  moved  later  to  the  present  Biblio- 
theque  Nationale. 

The  palace,  therefore,  though  neglected  by  the 
court,  was  used  for  the  encouragement  of  the  arts  ; 
artists  too  continued  to  have  lodgings  granted 
them  in  the  Louvre ;  Jean  Berain,  Israel  Sil- 
vestre,  Coustou,  Girardon  and  Coypel  are  a  few 
among  the  most  celebrated.  Under  the  regency 
of  the  due  d' Orleans,  during  the  minority  of 
Louis  XV.  (1715-1774),  this  privilege  was  shame- 
lessly abused  :  inferior  artists — people  who  were 
not  even  artists — installed  themselves  with  their 
families.  And  these  amazing  people  did  not 
hesitate  to  divide  the  great  rooms  to  suit  them- 
selves, to  make  fresh  chimneys,  to  drive  iron  pipes 
to  carry  off  smoke  through  the  walls.  The  place  was 
used  barbarously.  The  exterior  lay  smothered  under 
temporary  buildings :  even  the  colonnade  was 
walled  up  to  make  rooms.  The  finest  palace  of  the 

45 


THE    LOUVRE 

world  was  indeed  fallen  on  bad  times.  Ruin,  decay 
and  squalor  had  their  way  with  the  Louvre  to 
an  unthinkable  extent.  True,  agitations  were  not 
infrequently  heard  about  this  condition  of  things 
existing  in  a  king's  palace,  in  his  own  capital,  but 
no  attempt  was  made  to  cleanse  the  Augean 
stable.  The  king  cared  no  longer  for  the  Louvre, 
that  was  enough. 

But  a  change  came  with  the  election  of  M. 
de  Marigny  to  be  Surintendant  des  Bailments  de 
la  Couronne,  for  in  1775  he  obtained  leave  from 
the  king  to  restore  the  palace,  to  save  it  from  its 
parlous  state.  His  first  care  was  to  remove  the 
temporary  structures,  endangering  the  building, 
and  masking  it  under  a  sordid  huddle  of  wooden 
buildings,  which  he  found  everywhere.  He  tore 
down  the  sheds  and  ruins,  removed  the  stables 
which  were  built  up  against  the  colonnade,  and 
began  to  set  the  king's  house  in  order.  Huge  was 
the  ire  of  the  inhabitants  who  enjoyed  free 
lodging  in  the  Louvre ;  vast  the  difficulty  in  re- 
moving them.  Van  Loo,  who  had  installed  himself 
in  the  Galerie  d'Apollon,  refused  to  move !  But 
Marigny  attended  to  the  ravages  of  neglect,  and 
commissioned  the  architect  Gabriel  to  continue  the 
work  so  carelessly  abandoned.  The  colonnade  was 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

restored,  but  money  failed  for  anything  beyond 
repairs,  no  decorations  could  be  finished.  After 
Marigny  followed  M.  d'Angiviller,  who  also,  for 
lack  of  money,  could  do  little,  though  great  was 
his  enthusiasm. 

Under  Louis  XVI.  (1774-1793)  again  money 
failed  to  finish  the  Louvre ;  the  most  that  could  be 
done  was  to  get  it  relatively  into  the  same  state 
as  under  Louis  XIV. ;  but  considering  to  what  it 
had  fallen  in  the  interval,  how  abandoned  and 
decayed,  that  was  much  gained.  The  neglect  of 
the  court  continued,  but  the  Louvre  began  to  be 
put  to  many  official  uses  which  foreshadowed  its 
later  purpose  as  a  museum  and  as  public  offices. 
But  what  was  cleared  would  not  remain  clear :  the 
Louvre  began  again  to  be  overrun  with  persons 
who  considered  themselves  entitled  to  a  lodging 
therein. 

When,  in  1789,  Louis  XVI.  was  brought  from 
Versailles  to  the  Tuileries,  it  seemed  that  the 
Louvre  might  regain  its  old  place. 

Projects  for  its  completion  and  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  king  therein  were  mooted  :  all  of 
course  to  come  to  nothing. 

The  Revolution  saw  the  Louvre  emptied  again  ; 
in  1792  all  the  occupants  were  turned  out,  while 

47 


THE    LOUVRE 

011  the  request  of  David  all  the  goods  of  the 
Academies  were  seized.  But  the  Louvre  had 
before  it  bad  days.  The  Convention  having  decided 
to  devote  the  Louvre  to  a  museum  of  art,  everyone 
who  was  in  favour  with  the  Government  felt  them- 
selves entitled  to  lodge  there.  Again  they  installed 
themselves  where  they  could,  and  this  palace  of 
the  people  became  a  dirty,  foul  place,  where  the 
great  rooms  were  cut  up  to  form  several  apart- 
ments :  iron  pipes  poured  forth  smoke  in  every 
corner ;  chaos  reigned. 

Napoleon  came  to  end  for  ever  this  horrible 
condition.  He  ordered  out  the  occupants.  They 
knew  a  strong  man,  and  went.  For  the  artists  of 
real  merit  a  home  was  found  in  the  Sorbonne,  the 
learned  societies  returned  to  the  Louvre.  Then 
Napoleon  arranged  for  the  rooms  of  Anne 
d' Autriche,  and  part  of  the  Grande  Galerie,  to  be 
utilised  to  show  the  artistic  treasures  he  had 
gathered  in  Italy  on  the  field  of  battle.  And  in 
the  Louvre  was  solemnised  the  marriage  of  the 
Emperor  Napoleon  and  Marie  Louise ;  the  emperor 
and  his  bride  walking  down  the  Grande  Galerie 
from  his  Palace  of  the  Tuileries  to  the  Salon 
Carre,  where  the  ceremony  took  place. 

Napoleon  returned  again  to  the  old  dream  of 


( 

w 
s 


fc 
z 
o 
1-3 
o 
O 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

uniting  the  Louvre  and  the  Tuileries  on  the  north 
as  well  as  south,  and  he  employed  Percier  and 
Fontaine  as  architects.  Their  first  work  had  to 
be  to  cover  in  the  wing  by  the  water,  never 
thoroughly  finished,  and  to  complete  the  fa9ades 
in  the  Cour  du  Louvre.  But  here  the  old  difficulty 
appeared :  how  bring  into  harmony  the  work 
of  Perrault  and  Lescot?  All  the  old  discussions 
broke  out,  and  finally  the  emperor  nominated 
a  commission  to  deal  with  this  matter.  This 
commission  decided  to  keep  the  heavy  story, 
forming  a  third  order,  which  was  necessary  to 
mask  Perrault's  colonnade  from  the  interior  of  the 
court,  on  the  east  side,  but  to  leave  the  beautiful 
attics  of  Lescot's  design  on  the  other  three  sides, 
finishing  the  necessary  work  on  the  north  and 
south. 

Then  Napoleon,  much  impressed  with  the 
beauty  of  straight  lines,  unhappily  decided  to 
ignore  the  finding  of  the  commission,  and  to  con- 
tinue the  third  order  round  the  north,  south  and 
east  fa9ades.  Fortunately  he  has  spared  the  beauti- 
ful upper  story  of  Lescot  on  the  west  side.  But 
the  attics  of  the  north  and  south  side  have  dis- 
appeared, with  the  sculptures  of  Paul  Ponce, 
which  were  sawn  from  their  places. 
D  49 


THE    LOUVRE 

The  Cour  du  Louvre  has  now  only  on  the 
west  side  the  proportions  as  Lescot  planned  them, 
with  his  elegant  and  beautiful  upper  story.  The 
three  other  sides  have  a  second  story,  which  is 
almost  a  replica  of  the  first,  crowned  with  a 
balustrade,  and  with  no  visible  roof,  whereas  the 
west  side  permits  the  steep  grey  roof  to  be  seen. 
On  the  west  side  is  the  domed  Pavilion  de 
1'Horloge,  the  other  three  pavilions  only  rise 
above  the  court  by  their  pediments.  The  pediment 
on  the  east  side  was  carved  by  Coustou  about 
1757,  but  the  Gallic  cock  has  taken  the  place  of 
the  arms  of  France.  For  this  pediment  he  re- 
ceived ,£7000.  The  pediments  of  the  north  and 
south  pavilions  illustrate  the  encouragement  given 
by  France  to  art  and  science,  and  are  the  work 
of  Le  Sueur  and  Ramey.  Moitte,  Chaudet,  and 
Roland  were  employed  during  the  First  Empire 
on  the  decorations  rendered  necessary  by 
Napoleon's  decision. 

The  plan  of  Percier  and  Fontaine  for  the  union 
of  the  Louvre  and  Tuileries  included  a  cross 
gallery,  which  would  have  made  three  courts,  but 
when  the  Empire  fell  hardly  anything  had  been 
done;  it  was  reserved  for  Napoleon  III.  to 
complete  the  work. 

50 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

The  governments  of  the  Restoration  and  the 
Second  Republic  only  continued  the  gallery 
going  east  from  the  Pavilion  de  Marsan,  joining 
it  to  a  section  built  under  Napoleon  I.  There  is 
an  ugly  corner  where  the  two  meet,  a  corner  not 
gracious  in  so  fine  a  building.  Under  the  Restora- 
tion the  Louvre  began  to  be  used  again  for  purposes 
of  state.  The  Salle  des  Gardes,  now  the  Salle 
Louis  La  Caze,  was  used  for  the  two  Chambers 
when  the  king  opened  Parliament.  A  neighbour- 
ing salon  on  the  north  side  of  the  Pavilion  de 
THorloge  served  for  the  Conseil  d'Etat.  Exhibitions 
of  the  products  of  various  industries  were  held  in 
the  Louvre,  the  Salon  also  returned,  the  modern 
pictures  being  hung  over  the  old  ones  !  And  after 
the  Salon  the  king  distributed  awards  in  the 
Salon  Carre.  But  the  king  lived,  as  every  king 
since  Louis  XIV.,  in  the  Tuileries. 

During  the  Revolution  of  1830  the  Louvre 
attempted  resistance  against  the  invading  mob,  a 
thing  the  mediaeval  fortress  had  never  done,  and 
from  the  colonnade  the  Swiss  Guard  drew  on  the 
people.  The  mob,  however,  forced  a  way  in  and 
marched  through  the  galleries  and  salons.  But 
the  efforts  of  M.  de  Cailleux,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Museum,  preserved  the  pictures  from  harm. 


THE    LOUVRE 

In  the  Revolution  of  1848  the  collections  were 
in  greater  danger,  but  were  saved  by  the  painter 
Jeanron,  who  harangued  the  mob  and  induced 
them  to  retire.  On  his  advice  they  contented 
themselves  by  establishing  the  national  work- 
shops in  the  Louvre,  and  suppressing  in  a  burst 
of  democratic  fervour  the  jury  of  the  Salon.  Five 
hundred  pictures  were  hung  in  the  Salon  Carre 
and  Grande  Galerie  in  that  year's  Salon,  the  last 
held  in  the  Louvre. 

The  Emperor  Louis  Napoleon  ordered  the 
completion  of  the  Louvre,  trusting  the  work  to 
the  architects  Visconti  and  Lefuel.  An  immense 
effort  to  finish  the  work  so  often  projected  but 
never  carried  through  was  made,  3600  workmen 
being  employed. 

All  the  houses,  the  sheds,  and  structures  of 
every  kind  which  encumbered  the  place  du 
Carrousel  were  torn  down,  among  them  the 
Hotel  de  Nantes.  The  architects  gave  up  the  idea 
of  hiding  the  want  of  parallelism  between  the 
Louvre  and  the  Tuileries  by  cross  courts.  They 
contented  themselves  by  building  between  the 
long  wings  of  the  Louvre  two  buildings  with 
porticoes  on  the  ground  floor,  which  drew  together 
the  place  du  Carrousel,  making  its  east  end 

52 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

smaller.  Visconti,  to  whom  was  due  this  brilliant 
idea,  died  in  1854.  Lefuel  continued  his  work, 
which  is  rightly  considered  a  brilliant  example 
of  the  fusion  of  old  and  new,  since  it  is  kept  in 
harmony  with  the  old  Cour  du  Louvre.  These 
new  wings  are  decorated  with  statues  of  cele- 
brated Frenchmen,  statues  of  a  pleasant  medio- 
crity. Between  these  wings,  at  the  west  end,  is  the 
great  monument  to  Gambetta,  whose  tumultuous 
figure  seems  to  be  in  motion  against  the  back- 
ground of  trees  behind.  The  monument  is  by 
Boileau ;  the  sculptures  are  by  Aube.  One  of  the 
little  gardens  contains  the  bronze  '  Lafayette,'  by 
P.  W.  Bartlett. 

The  work  of  finishing  the  Louvre  was  celebrated 
on  14th  August  1857,  when  the  emperor  went  to 
the  ceremony  in  great  pomp.  He  gave  a  discourse 
in  which  he  said:  e L?  achievement  du  Louvre  rietait 
pas  le  caprice  d'un  moment,  mats  la  realisation 
dyun  grand  dessein  soutenu  par  I' instinct  du  pays 
pendant  plus  de  trois  cents  ans.'  The  discourse 
was  followed  by  a  banquet  in  the  Pavilion  Denon. 
Naturally  the  completion  of  the  work  was  received 
with  great  enthusiasm. 

The  work  of  Visconti  and  Lefuel  completed 
the  north  wing,  where  a  gap  had  existed  between 

53 


THE    LOUVRE 

the  Pavilion  de  Rohan,  erected  during  the  reign 
of  Louis  XVIII.,  and  the  small  section  east  of 
the  Pavilion  Colbert,  which  was  built  under 
Napoleon  I.  Visconti  and  Lefuel  also  remodelled 
the  work  done  at  the  west  end  of  the  south  wing 
under  Henri  IV.,  and  pierced  an  entrance 
between  the  Pavilion  de  Lesdiquieres  and  de  la 
Tremoille.  Over  the  central  arch  of  this  gateway 
was  a  statue  of  Napoleon  III.,  replaced  after  his 
fall  by  Mercie's  '  Genius  of  Art.'  But  though  the 
statue  of  Napoleon  III.  has  been  removed,  his 
initial  and  crown  remain  on  the  summit  of  the 
gateway,  with  an  inscription  relating  to  him. 

Under  Napoleon  III.  also  the  Galerie  d'Apol- 
lon  was  completed.  Delacroix  painted  the  central 
panel  of  the  ceiling,  left  unfinished  by  Le 
Brun.  Now  the  Galerie  d'Apollon  is  gorgeous  in 
sombre  colour,  with  a  ceiling  of  the  last  mag- 
nificence and  with  walls  bearing  tapestry 
pictures  of  the  great  men  of  France.  The  contents 
of  the  gallery,  a  wealth  of  crystal  and  gold, 
gleaming  enamel  and  jewellery,  are  worthy  of 
the  setting.  The  Salon  Carre  and  the  Grande 
Galerie  were  also  redecorated,  and  reinaugurated 
on  5th  June  1851. 

For  a  time  this  great  palace  was  secure  in  its 

54 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

pride  of  completion.  In  1859  Napoleon  III.  held 
a  great  banquet  in  honour  of  the  generals  who 
returned  victorious  from  the  Italian  campaign. 
The  emperor  received  his  guests  in  the  Grande 
Galerie,  and  passed  to  a  banquet  in  the  Salle 
d'Etats.  Here  on  a  raised  dais  dined  the  emperor 
and  the  princes  of  his  family,  overlooking  the 
tables  at  which  were  seated  his  guests.  The  choir 
of  the  opera  sang,  and  the  banquet  was  a  royal 
rejoicing  of  considerable  splendour.  The  Louvre 
was  indeed  more  palace  than  museum,  so  much 
of  it  was  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  emperor. 
In  1870  the  Grande  Galerie,  scene  of  so  many 
events,  saw  the  tragic  figure  of  the  Empress 
Eugenie,  followed  only  by  Mademoiselle  le  Breton, 
Prince  Metternich  and  M.  Nigra,  hurry  through  it, 
escaping  from  the  Tuileries,  which  was  invested 
by  the  insurgents  on  the  4th  of  September.  She 
passed  round  the  south  and  east  side  of  the  Cour 
du  Louvre,  and  escaped  from  the  palace  by  the 
gate  in  the  Pavilion  Saint  Germain  1'Auxerrois. 

During  the  siege  of  Paris,  earthworks  were 
thrown  up  in  front  of  the  windows  to  protect 
the  antique  sculpture  on  the  ground  floor  from 
shells ;  and  the  more  precious  objects  of  the 
collections  were  packed  up,  to  be  despatched  to 

55 


THE    LOUVRE 

Brest.  Six  hundred  pictures  were  placed  on  board 
a  ship  ready  to  sail  for  America. 

After  the  fall  of  Napoleon  and  the  siege  of 
Paris  followed  the  Commune.  The  Communards 
suspended  the  Conservators  of  the  Museum, 
entrusting  their  duties  to  Hereau,  a  painter, 
Dalou,  the  sculptor,  and  Henriot,  an  architect. 
But  fortunately  these  three  men  abstained  from 
actually  expelling  from  the  Louvre  M.  Barbet  de 
Jouy,  Conservator  of  the  French  Sculpture, 
M.  Heron  de  Villefosse,  whose  work  lay  in  the  de- 
partment of  antique  sculpture,  and  M.  Morand,  the 
Secretaire  Comptable  of  the  Museum;  and  to  these 
men  the  guardians  of  the  Louvre  continued  to 
look. 

The  long-planned  work  of  the  French  monarchy 
was  complete,  but,  like  Aladdin's  palace,  the 
Louvre  should  have  been  left  unfinished :  it  is 
not  well  to  interfere  with  the  will  of  the  gods. 
That  Fate  which  did  not  intend  the  Louvre  and 
the  Tuileries  to  be  blended  into  one  harmoni- 
ous whole,  and  had  for  so  long  successfully 
prevented  the  completion  of  the  work,  used  the 
Commune  as  a  weapon  to  strike  and  shatter  once 
and  for  all  this  plan  of  upstart  man.  The  Louvre 
was  complete ;  the  Tuileries  was  doomed. 

56 


ELISABETH  D'  AUTRICHE 

Franfois  Clouet 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

About  midnight  on  the  23rd  of  May  1871, 
the  Communards  fired  the  Tuileries.  Flames  of 
every  colour,  fed  by  the  petrol  and  chemicals 
placed  in  the  palace  by  Bergeret,  burst  out. 
At  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  Palais  Royal 
was  ablaze,  and  an  hour  later  the  frightened 
watchers  in  the  museum  of  the  Louvre  saw  it 
also  alight.  The  Pavilion  Richelieu  caught  fire. 
The  fate  of  the  Louvre  hung  in  the  balance. 
Then  the  old  Conservators  of  the  Louvre  saw  that 
on  them  its  safety  depended  :  they  sent  guardians 
into  the  cellars  to  search  for  explosives,  and 
hastily  closing  every  possible  entrance  prepared 
to  resist  the  mob,  if  they  attempted  to  force 
a  way  into  the  Louvre  before  the  army  of  Thiers 
could  enter  Paris.  Then  began  a  grim  fight 
against  the  flames,  which  were  licking  the  roofs ; 
and  if  by  daybreak  most  of  the  danger  was  over 
it  was  chiefly  owing  to  the  devotion  and  bravery 
of  Barbet  de  Jouy  and  Heron  de  Villefosse.  The 
three  delegates  of  the  Communards,  who  were 
encountered  wandering  through  the  galleries, 
offered  their  services  to  help  in  saving  the 
building,  of  which  they  were  nominally  in  charge. 
De  Jouy  however  refused  their  help,  probably 
uncertain  of  their  intentions,  and  they  were 

57 


THE    LOUVRE 

carefully  watched  while  the  struggle  went  on. 
De  Jouy  also  gave  them  an  asylum  when  the 
troops  entered  the  Louvre,  even  aiding  them 
to  escape.  Troops  under  the  command  of  Sigoyer, 
who  was  stationed  in  the  Tuileries  Gardens, 
helped  to  clear  the  mob  from  the  place  du 
Carrousel,  and  to  aid  in  beating  out  the  fires  on 
the  roof.  On  the  following  day,  when  the  chief 
danger  was  over,  the  windows  of  the  Galerie 
d'Apollon  were  occupied  by  troops  firing  on  the 
Communards  who  were  installed  on  the  Pont  Neuf. 
The  return  fire  destroyed  part  of  the  external 
decorations  of  the  gallery,  though  there  are  now 
no  signs  of  damage.  The  tricolor  flag,  floating 
from  the  Pavilion  de  FHorloge  after  the  troops 
occupied  the  Louvre,  drew  down,  until  Barbet 
de  Jouy  and  Villefosse  lowered  the  flag,  on  the 
building  fire  from  the  Communards'  guns  mounted 
on  Pere  Lachaise. 

The  Louvre  was  saved,  but  the  Tuileries  Palace 
lay  a  mass  of  smoking  ruins,  and  the  wings  of 
the  Louvre,  all  its  westward  growth,  was  shorn 
of  their  purpose.  But,  deeply  regrettable  from  an 
artistic  and  historical  point  of  view  as  the 
burning  of  the  Tuileries  was,  it  is  to  be  doubted 
if  any  second  enclosed  court  could  be  as  fine  as 

58 


THE  PALACE  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

the  present  Louvre,  with  the  Gardens  of  the 
Tuileries  stretching  away  towards  the  Arc  de 
Triomphe  de  1'fitoile. 

If  the  Cour  du  Louvre  and  the  river  face  of 
the  Grande  Galerie  are  fine,  so  also  are  the 
interior  faces  of  the  Nouveau  Louvre,  the  west 
ends  of  which  really  form  part  of  the  Tuileries. 
A  great  space  gave  a  great  opportunity,  and 
on  the  whole  most  people  will  acknowledge  that 
this  part  of  the  building  also  has  been  well 
planned  and  well  executed.  The  long  grey 
grandiose  lines  are  worthy  of  the  Louvre  the 
kings  planned.  The  Arc  de  Triomphe  du 
Carrousel,  designed  to  commemorate  the  victories 
of  1 805  and  to  form  an  approach  to  the  Tuileries, 
supports  its  unexpected  isolation  magnificently. 
It  is  the  work  of  Percier  and  Fontaine.  One  of 
the  best  points  from  which  to  see  the  Nouveau 
Louvre  is  the  steps  of  the  Salle  Mastaba,  before 
which  the  whole  western  Louvre  lies  outspread — 
the  finest  palace  of  the  world,  yet  only  worthy 
of  Paris. 

During  the  Third  Republic  the  dangers,  especi- 
ally of  fire,  attendant  on  the  occupation  of  the 
Louvre  have  ceased,  as  it  now  contains  only  art 
collections  and  the  offices  of  some  public  services  ; 

59 


THE    LOUVRE 

these  latter  are  being  gradually  ousted  by  the 
growing  museum,  to  the  end  that  ultimately  the 
whole  Louvre  will  be  consecrated  to  art.  The 
only  remaining  public  offices  are  those  of  the 
Ministere  des  Finances  in  the  north  wing. 

A  strong  castle  in  the  Middle  Ages,  a  mansion 
under  Charles  V.,  an  elegant  chateau  under  the 
Valois,  a  grandiose  palace  under  Louis  XIV.,  a 
palace  of  the  sovereign  people  now,  the  Louvre 
has  probably  seen  its  last  change  of  purpose, 
whatever  the  future  has  in  store  for  the  French 
nation.1 

1  k  Le  Musee  du  Louvre,'  by  M.  Paul  Gaultier,  and 
*  Le  Louvre  et  son  Histoire,'  by  M.  Albert  Babeau,  are 
both  very  interesting. 


II 

THE  MUSEUM  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

THE  creation  of  the  Musee  du  Louvre  is  officially 
a  work  of  the  Revolution.  It  was  opened  in  1793. 
But  its  origins  go  further  back.  Always  the  kings 
of  France,  from  the  time  when  Philippe  Auguste 
stored  his  chief  valuables  in  the  Grosse  Tour, 
have  tended  to  use  the  Louvre  as  a  storehouse 
of  artistic  treasures ;  and  finally  the  collections 
of  the  king  were  shown  to  certain  privileged 
persons  on  certain  days.  In  1 750  one  hundred  and 
sixty  pictures — Italian,  Flemish,  French — were 
brought  from  the  rooms  of  the  Suriniendance  de 
Versailles  to  Paris,  to  be  hung  in  the  Luxembourg 
Palace,  the  Marquis  de  Marigny  being  then 
Directeur  des  Bailments  du  Roi.  And  at  this 
moment  the  feeling,  which  had  long  been  in 
the  air,  that  the  public  were  entitled  to  some 
enjoyment  of  the  art  treasures  of  the  Crown, 
seems  first  to  have  taken  official  form.  Twice 
a  week  the  public  were  allowed  to  see  the 
61 


THE    LOUVRE 

pictures,  and  also  the  Rubens  Gallery,  not  then 
moved  to  the  Louvre. 

In  1775  the  corate  de  la  Billanderie 
d'Angiviller  was  Directeur  des  Bailments  du  Roi, 
and  what  had  so  long  been  voiced  as  a  pious  wish 
by  outsiders  he  essayed  to  bring  about.  He 
decided  that  the  finest  pictures  and  sculptures 
belonging  to  the  king  should  be  collected  in 
the  Louvre,  in  a  part  to  be  called  the  museum. 
Versailles  contains  a  picture  of  Angiviller,  holding 
in  his  hand  a  plan  of  the  Louvre  arranged  for 
this  purpose.  His  idea  was  received  with  great 
enthusiasm  in  Paris,  where  Angiviller  pressed 
forwrard  his  project  with  keen  vigour.  But  his 
wise  plan  was  not  to  be  realised.  In  1783  the 
Parisians  lost  even  what  they  already  had,  for 
the  king  ordered  the  pictures,  including  all  the 
great  Rubens,  to  be  removed  to  Versailles.  This 
was  done  with  little  ceremony,  or  even  care. 

The  Revolution  was  destined  to  carry  out 
Angiviller's  dream.  On  26'th  May  1791,  on  the 
suggestion  of  Barere,  the  Constituante  decided  to 
make  the  Louvre  a  depot  des  sciences  ct  des  arts. 
The  26th  August  17.91  saw  the  same  project 
reaffirmed,  and  a  year  later  a  commission, 
nominated  by  the  Assemblee  Legislative,  on  the 
62 


THE  MUSEUM  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

recommendation  of  Roland,  was  appointed. 
Among  the  duties  of  the  commission  was  to  be 
the  gathering  together  in  the  Louvre  of  all  the 
art  treasures  now  scattered  about  in  the  royal 
palaces — the  "  Maisons  ci-devant  Royales"  in  the 
Cabinet  du  Roi,  in  the  "Maisons  dcs  Petit 
Augiistins"  and  other  Church  property,  convents 
and  so  forth ;  and  also  the  treasures  taken  from 
the  chateaux  of  the  emigres. 

A  decree  of  the  Convention,  dated  the  17th 
July  1793,  ordered  that  the  museum  should  be 
opened  on  the  following  10th  of  August,  in  the 
Grande  Galerie.  To  the  Minister  of  the  Interior 
the  carrying  out  of  this  decree  was  entrusted ; 
and  £100,000  yearly  were  to  be  put  at  his  disposal 
to  buy  works  of  art  '  quit  importe  a  la  Republique 
de  ne  pas  laisser  passer  dans  des  pays  etr  angers? 

The  members  of  the  first  commission  were  the 
painters  Jean  Rene  Jollain  and  Francis  Andre 
Vincent,  who  had  previously  been  charged  with 
the  care  of  the  pictures  in  the  Cabinet  du  Roi, 
Jean  Baptist e  Regnault,  an  historical  painter, 
Charles  Bossut,  a  member  of  Academic  des 
Sciences,  Pierre  Pasquier,  a  miniaturest,  and 
Pierre  Cossart,  a  miniaturest  and  First  Com- 
missioner. These  unfortunate  men  have  been 

63 


THE    LOUVRE 

variously  spoken  of  as  e  des  artistes  et  des  experts 
recommandables ,  and  as  worse  than  incapable. 
Le  Brim  and  David  were  among  their  most  violent 
detractors.  David  called  them  '  les  viles  creatures 
de  Roland,'  and  Courajod  says:  'This  grotesque 
group  of  incapable  men  worked  tranquilly  in  the 
museum  from  the  end  of  1792  until  the  16th  of 
January  1794.  Then  the  ridicule  they  drew  down 
on  themselves,  and  the  danger  to  which  they 
exposed  the  rare  objects  they  found  worthy  of  a 
place  in  the  museum,  led  to  their  being  driven 
ignominiously  from  it  by  David.' 

The  official  date  given  for  the  opening  of  the 
museum,  the  date  carved  over  the  entrance  to 
the  Galerie  d'Apollon,  is  the  10th  August  1793, 
and  this  date  is  that  accepted  by  Renouvier.  But 
the  evidence  is  conflicting :  it  is  uncertain  if  the 
public  were  really  admitted  before  the  8th  of 
November.  At  first  the  museum  was  only  open 
for  three  days  in  every  ten,  and,  as  was  unavoid- 
able, the  collection  was  in  disorder,  though  there 
was  a  catalogue,  and  a  serious  attempt  was  being 
made  to  get  everything  into  shape.  Many  of  the 
objects  had  not  arrived ;  it  was  impossible  for 
an  arrangement  to  be  anything  but  tentative, 
though  the  museum  was  rich  already  :  it  contained 


GlLLES 
Antoine  IVatteau 


LE  CHATEAU  DE  CARTES 

lean  Baptiste  Char  din 


THE  MUSEUM  OP  THE  LOUVRE 

live  hundred  and  thirty-seven  pictures  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty-four  pieces  of  sculpture, 
besides  other  objects. 

It  is  amazing  during  the  Revolution,  how  well, 
how  discreetly,  the  idea  of  the  museum  was 
managed,  how  excellently  it  was  planned.  In  fact 
the  lines  laid  down  by  the  Constituante  and  the 
Convention  are  those  on  which  work  has  been 
organised  ever  since. 

One  accusation  brought  by  David  against  the 
unfortunate  commissioners  was  that  they  caused 
pictures  to  be  restored,  to  their  lasting  injury  :  he 
maintained  that  Correggio's  (  Antiope '  especially 
suffered.  But  doubtless  some  of  his  violence  was 
due  to  personal  interest. 

For  the  opening  of  the  museum,  and  its  care 
afterwards,  a  guard  of  sixty-five  men,  with  a  cap- 
tain and  two  lieutenants,  were  judged  necessary. 
The  unfortunate  inhabitants  of  Versailles,  who  saw 
in  the  downfall  of  the  king  their  ruin,  as  a  town 
which  had  simply  lived  by  the  court,  petitioned 
that  the  art  treasures  of  the  Trianons  and 
Versailles  should  be  left,  else  were  they  deprived 
of  everything  which  could  attract ;  and  the  decree 
of  July  1763,  therefore,  arranged  that  this  should 
be  so.  But  in  1794  the  pictures,  antiques,  and 
E  65 


THE    LOUVRE 

bronze  copies  of  antiques,  were  brought  from 
Versailles,  which  was  thus  stripped  of  its  chiefest 
treasures. 

The  ridicule  and  the  attacks  made  on  the  first 
commission  led  to  it  being  abolished  by  a  decree 
of  the  16th  January  1794;  the  control  of  the 
museum  was  then  entrusted  to  a  '  Conservatoire 
du  Musee  des  Arts,'  the  members  of  which  were 
Fragonard,  Bonvoisin,  Lesueur,  and  Picault  for 
painting,  Dardel  and  Dupasquier  for  sculpture,  and 
David  Leroi  and  Launoi  for  architecture.  Wicar 
and  Varon  were  also  members,  charged  with  the 
care  of  the  antiques. 

On  the  27th  of  July  1798  Paris  was  stirring 
with  the  magnetic  movement  which  precedes  a 
great  event.  For  Paris  was  to  see  the  visible  signs 
of  victory ;  the  first-fruits  were  to  be  gathered 
in.  The  pictures  and  sculptures,  manuscripts  and 
valuable  books,  ceded  to  France  by  virtue  of  the 
treaties  of  Tolentino  and  Campo-Formio,  were  to 
cross  Paris  in  solemn  state,  conveyed  in  forty- 
five  cars.  The  procession  of  cars,  escorted  by 
a  band  of  savants,  artists  and  employees  from 
the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  the  Louvre,  and  the 
Musee  des  Monuments  Fran9ais,  crossed  the  town 
from  the  place  de  la  Bastille  to  the  champ  de 
66 


THE  MUSEUM  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

Mars,  where,  close  to  the  autel  de  la  pairic, 
the  Minister  of  the  Interior  was  waiting, 
surrounded  by  members  of  the  Institute.  Some 
of  the  cars  contained  objects  for  the  Musee 
d'Histoire  Naturelle  and  Jardin  des  Plantes,  but 
twenty-nine  of  them  contained  pictures  and 
marbles  for  the  Louvre,  then  called  the  Musee 
Central  des  Arts.  The  cars  were  decorated  with 
garlands  and  flags,  and  bore  the  names  of  their 
principal  contents,  among  which  were  the  '  Apollo 
Belvedere,'  'The  Dying  Gaul/  'The  Virgin  of 
Foligno,'  and  'The  Transfiguration/  The  car  con- 
taining the  antique  marbles  bore  the  ominously 
triumphant  inscription  : 

*  La  Grece  les  ceda  :  Rome  les  a  perdtis. 
Leur  sort  changed  deux  fois  ;  Us  ne  changer  out  plus* 

At  first  the  Louvre  could  not  afford  space 
to  show  all  these  marvels,  but  the  work  was 
pressed  hurriedly  on,  and  soon  all  Paris  was  pour- 
ing through  the  galleries  of  the  Louvre,  to  enjoy 
a  first  sight  of  the  spoils  the  Goddess  of  War  had 
delivered  over  to  them. 

After  the  campaigns  of  1806  and  1807,  Flemish, 
Dutch  and  German  pictures  came  to  swell  the 
collections,  with  further  sculptures  and  bronzes. 


THE    LOUVRE 

Never  before  had  so  many  masterpieces  been 
gathered  together,  for  a  continual  stream  of  new 
treasures  were  continually  pouring  in  to  enrich 
Napoleon's  city.  The  Salon  Carre,  arranged  to 
show  them,  could  only  hold  them  temporarily  ; 
then  they  were  passed  on  to  the  Grande  Galerie, 
and  their  place  was  taken  by  the  newest  arrivals. 
But  unhappily  for  France  the  spoils  had  to  be 
given  up- in  1815,  and  it  is  curious,  and  rather 
illuminating,  to  find  that  Frenchmen  fiercely 
objected  to  their  removal  and  return  to  their  orig- 
inal countries,  crying  out  on  what  they  genuinely 
considered  an  unjust  act.  But  much  escaped  from 
the  eyes  of  the  Allies,  much  had  been  sent  to 
local  museums,  whence  no  one  claimed  it.  Some 
vagueness  existed  as  to  the  origin  of  many  of 
the  treasures  in  the  Louvre.  Naturally  the  officials 
did  not  press  forward  with  information  as  to 
the  objects  Napoleon  had  gained  for  them,  and 
something  was  left  when  the  Allies  had  completed 
their  work.  The  administrators,  especially  Vivant 
Denon,  the  Directeur,  and  Louis  Antoine 
Lavallee,  Secretaire  General  du  Musee,  displayed 
a  tact  and  ability  over  this  difficult  matter  of 
stripping  the  Louvre  of  her  prizes  of  war  which 
ended  in  many  permanent  gains  for  France. 
68 


THE  MUSEUM  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

But  the  collections  that  remained  were 
splendid  ;  no  attempt  was  made  by  the  Allies  to 
follow  the  example  set  by  France  and  strip 
from  her  some  of  her  own  treasures.  These 
have  since  been  added  to  by  valuable  donations 
and  legacies,  and  by  extensive  purchases,  the 
French  Government  comparing  favourably  with 
the  English  Government  in  its  encouragement 
of  art. 

The  internal  administration  of  the  Louvre  has 
been  checkered ;  from  these  first  commissions, 
so  fiercely  accused  of  destroying  pictures  by 
restoring  them,  and  from  later  days  when  the 
same  error  was  practised,  from  periods  when 
method  was  everything  and  the  Louvre  \vas  tied 
up  in  red  tape,  to  the  present  condition  of  things, 
the  museum  has  seen  many  changes. 

During  the  Restoration,  and  under  Louis 
Philippe,  objects  were  recklessly  taken  for  the 
king's  palaces,  where,  badly  catalogued,  or  even 
not  catalogued  at  all,  they  deteriorated,  and  in 
some  cases  disappeared. 

The  Musee  du  Louvre  is  now  the  chief  of  the 
four (  Musees  Nationaux,'  of  which  the  other  three 
are  the  Musee  du  Luxembourg,  the  Musee  du 
Versailles  and  the  Musee  des  Antiquites  Nationales 


THE    LOUVRE 

de  St  Germain-en-Laye.  The  other  museums 
belonging  to  France  should  be  more  correctly 
called  Musees  de  1'Etat :  they  are  on  a  different 
footing.  The  administration  of  the  Musees 
Nationaux  is,  by  a  decree  of  the  5th  September 
1888,  modified  somewhat  by  later  decrees,  con- 
fided to  a  Directeur,  appointed  by  the  President 
of  the  Republic  on  the  advice  of  his  ministry. 
The  Directeur,  who  lives  in  the  Louvre,  acts 
under  the  authority  of  the  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction  and  Fine  Arts.  He  has  under  him 
a  Chef  du  Secretariat  des  Musees  Nationaux,  or 
Secretariat  Agent  Comptable,  a  conservateur  for 
each  department,  of  which  in  the  Louvre 
there  are  seven,  conservateurs  adjoints,  attaches 
payes  and  attaches  fibres.  There  is  also  on  the 
staff  of  the  Louvre  a  librarian  and  keeper  of  the 
records  (a  bibliothecaire  archiviste),  clerks,  chefs 
gardiens,  sous-chefs,  gardiens  of  the  first,  second, 
third  and  fourth  class,  and  various  extra  workers. 
The  Chef  du  Secretariat,  conservateurs,  and  con- 
servateurs adjoints  are  nominated  by  the  President 
of  the  Republic,  acting  on  the  advice  of  the 
Minister  of  Fine  Arts.  The  other  members  of 
the  staff  are  chosen  directly  by  this  ministry. 
The  gardiens  are  all  old  sous-officiers9  though 
70 


THE  MUSEUM  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

private  soldiers  are  eligible  for  the  posts  if  there 
are  no  sous-officiers  to  fill  them.  The  salaries  drop 
from  that  of  the  Directeur,  who  gets  a  salary 
of  12,000  francs  yearly,  to  that  of  the  first-class 
gardien  getting  a  salary  of  1800  francs. 

But  beside  all  these  visible  organisers  and 
workers  at  the  Louvre  there  are  the  workshops. 
There  is  a  framer  and  letterer,  a  department  for 
engravings,  an  atelier  for  preserving  the  antiques, 
a  restorer  for  the  antique  vases  and  small 
antiquities,  an  atelier  for  making  casts  of  antiques, 
and  a  workshop  in  connection  with  the  Musee 
de  Marine. 

The  Directeur,  conservateurs,  and  conservateurs 
adjoint*  meet  as  a  committee  twice  a  month,  or 
oftener  if  necessary,  to  consult  as  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  works  of  art,  and  on  other  points  which 
arise.  During  the  Third  Republic  the  budget  of  the 
Musees  Nationaux  ('personal  et  materiel  compris') 
in  1870  was  331,083  francs,  rising  by  1880  to 
783,780  francs,  by  1890  to  937,375  francs,  by 
1900  to  962,905  francs.  The  credit  given  for 
the  purchase  of  works  of  art  has  varied  since 
1870  between  54,000  and  185,000  francs  yearly. 
Since  1896  this  credit  is  entered  under  a 
separate  heading  as  ( Subvention  de  FEtat  pour 


THE    LOUVRE 

acquisition  dobjets  ay  ant  mi  caractcre  artistique, 
archeologique  ou  historiqiie.'  The  grants  had  to 
be  spent  in  the  year  or  lapse,  an  arrangement 
which  made  buying  difficult,  the  sale  of  works 
of  art  being  very  fluctuating,  but  extraordinary 
grants  were  occasionally  made.  This  arrange- 
ment was  altered  in  1895,  when  M.  Georges 
Leygues,  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  and 
Fine  Arts,  and  M.  Poincare,  Minister  of  Finance, 
carried  a  law  amending  this  difficulty,  a  law  which 
was  incorporated  in  the  e  loi  de  finances '  of  that 
year.  The  chief  revenues  of  the  Musees  Nationaux 
are  drawn  from  this  yearly  grant  from  the  state, 
gifts  and  legacies,  objects  subscribed  for,  revenue 
coming  from  the  Caisse  des  Musees  and  revenue 
derived  from  the  sale  of  casts  and  engravings  from 
the  museums. 

The  Caisse  des  Musees  was  established  in  1 896, 
when  most  of  the  Crown  jewels  were  sold. 
Half  the  proceeds  were  allocated  to  the  Musees 
Nationaux.  In  1903  the  income  from  this  source 
was  168,516  francs,  from  the  sale  of  engravings 
and  casts  60,000  francs.  In  1897  the  Societe  des 
Amis  du  Louvre  was  started,  to  aid  in  buying 
works  of  art  for  the  nation. 

In  connection  with  the  Musee  du  Louvre  is 
72 


:  s 

1! 


L'  IMPERATRICE  JOSEPHINE 

Pierre  Prudhon 


THE  MUSEUM  OF  THE  LOUVRE 

the  Ecole  du  Louvre,  instituted  in  1882,  and 
having  for  its  object  the  study  of  art  and 
archaeology.  This  useful  and  important  school, 
the  annual  budget  of  which  is  about  28,000  francs, 
is  open  to  students  of  over  sixteen. 


73 


Ill 

THE   PAINTINGS 

IT  is  in  the  paintings  in  the  Louvre  that  its 
chief  glory  as  a  museum  lies.  The  wise  culture 
of  her  kings,  and  the  no  less  wise  policy  of  her 
republics,  have  given  to  France  a  collection 
of  paintings  which  is  of  the  greatest  distinction, 
full  of  pieces  of  the  very  first  importance. 

Long  ago  in  the  Italian  campaigns  of  Frai^ois 
Ier  (1515-1547),  the  star  of  the  Musee  du  Louvre 
began  to  rise,  for  during  those  campaigns  the 
king  acquired  his  love  of  art :  by  his  later 
policy  he  laid  down  that  tradition  of  culture,  of 
encouragement  of  painting,  which  his  successors 
followed.  Francois  Ier  began  to  form  a  collection 
of  easel  paintings ;  while  among  the  artists 
who  visited  his  court  were  Leonardo  da  Vinci, 
Andrea  del  Sarto,  and  Benvenuto  Cellini.  Among 
his  purchases,  which  now  hang  in  the  Louvre, 
some  of  its  chiefest  treasures,  are  Raphael's  '  La 
Belle  Jardiniere/  da  Vinci's  '  Vierge  aux  Rochers/ 

74 


THE    PAINTINGS 

the  'Sainte  Famille  de  Frar^ois  Ier/  Raphael's 
fSt  Margaret/  <St  Michel/  and  his  portrait  of 
Jeanne  d'Aragoii.  'La  Joconde/  which  Francois 
Ier  also  bought,  cost  ' quatre  mille  ecus  d'or.' 

But  Henri  II.  (1547-1559)  and  Catherine  de 
Medicis  also  were  no  mean  lovers  of  art ;  and 
Marie  de  Medicis  commissioned  for  France  that 
great  group  of  decorative  paintings  by  Rubens 
which  are  now  in  the  Louvre.  The  collection  of 
Cardinal  Richelieu  added  Andrea  Mantegna's 
{  Parnassus/  his  ( La  Sagesse  victorieuse  des  Vices/ 
Lorenzo  Costa's  '  Court  of  Isabella  d'Este/  and 
Perugino's  '  Combat  de  1* Amour  et  de  la  Chastete ' 
to  the  royal  pictures. 

Louis  XIV.  (1643-1715)  inherited  no  less  than 
two  hundred  paintings,  and  added  to  their 
number  and  importance  very  considerably. 
Everard  Jabach,  who  became  a  naturalised 
Frenchman  in  1647,  and  lived  in  Paris,  formed 
a  magnificent  gallery  of  pictures,  many  of  which 
he  bought  from  the  collection  of  Charles  I., 
sold  by  Cromwell.  Louis  XIV.  bought  these 
pictures,  in  number  just  over  a  hundred,  and 
five  thousand  five  hundred  and  forty-two  draw- 
ings, for  £220,000,  and  that  was  little  more 
than  half  the  sum  Jabach  expected,  Among  the 

75 


THE    LOUVRE 

pictures  thus  obtained  was  Titian's  c  Entombment/ 
bought  from  the  collection  of  Charles  I.  for 
£128,  and  Giorgione's  (  Pastoral  Symphony'  from 
the  same  source. 

Cardinal  Mazarin  also  swelled  the  growing 
collection  by  paintings,  many  of  which  he  also 
bought  from  the  sale  of  Charles  I,  Giorgione's 
'  Saint  Famille/  now  often  attributed  to  Cariani, 
came  from  Mazarin' s  collection ;  which  in  all 
added  over  five  hundred  pictures  to  those  of  the 
king.  Louis  XIV.  also  purchased  Veronese's 
f  Pelerins  d'Emmaiis,'  eight  pictures  by  Carracci, 
nine  pictures  by  Guido  Reni,  and  ten  by  Domeni- 
chino.  The  four  paintings  of  the  Seasons  by  Poussin 
(1594-1665),  which  were  painted  for  the  due  de 
Richelieu  in  1660,  for  his  Chateau  de  Meudon, 
were  also  bought  by  the  king ;  who  purchased  too 
the  beautiful  landscape  by  Poussin,  'Diogene 
jetant  son  Ecuelle/  painted  in  Rome  in  1648,  now 
hanging  in  the  Salon  Carre,  from  the  collection 
of  the  Genoese  banker,  M.  Lumagne.  Seven  Van 
Dycks— Nos.  1961-1963,  1970,  1973-1975— which 
are  among  the  present  glories  of  the  Louvre 
were  also  acquired  by  the  king.  The  Dutch  school 
the  Roi  Soleil  disliked,  and  only  purchased  one 
Teniers.  Then  there  were  gifts,  especially  im- 

76 


THE    PAINTINGS 

portant  being  those  of  the  Marquis  de  Bethune. 
Indeed  so  much  did  the  royal  collection  increase 
that,  according  to  the  inventory  made  by  Bailly, 
in  1716,  the  Crown  possessed  about  one  thousand 
four  hundred  and  seventy-eight  pictures. 

Louis  XV.  (1715-1774)  bought  about  three 
hundred  pictures,  among  them  '  The  Virgin  with 
the  Veil/  sometimes  called  '  The  Virgin  with  the 
Blue  Diadem/  doubtfully  attributed  to  Raphael, 
and  coming  from  the  collection  of  the  prince  de 
Carignan.  Louis  XV.  also  secured  several  pictures 
of  the  Dutch  school. 

But  the  royal  paintings  had  now  before  them 
a  sorry  time.  Neglected,  scattered  among  the 
royal  palaces,  uncared  for,  they  were  not  even 
safe  from  injury,  and  some  which  had  been 
previously  catalogued  have  absolutely  disappeared. 
Louis  XVI.,  however,  was  a  buyer  of  pictures, 
especially  of  the  Dutch  school.  To  him  also  the 
Louvre  owes  five  of  the  less  important  Murillos, 
and  a  series  of  pictures  by  Le  Sueur,  which  are 
hung  in  Salle  XII. 

The  Revolution  saw  the  gathering  together  of 
all  these  paintings  in  the  Louvre  :  churches  were 
stripped  of  their  altarpieces,  the  houses  of  the 
emigres  yielded  up  their  artistic  treasures,  the 

77 


THE    LOUVRE 

galleries  of  the  Louvre  began  to  fill.  The  treaty 
of  Bologna,  1796,  and  the  treaty  of  Tolentino, 
1797,  added  enormously  to  the  picture  gallery — 
much  was  restored  in  1815,  but  much  remained; 
though  of  the  five  thousand  two  hundred  and 
thirty-three  objects  returned  to  their  country 
of  origin  by  the  Allied  Powers  two  thousand  and 
sixty-five  were  pictures.  The  Louvre  in  that 
proud  time  possessed,  besides  its  principal 
treasures,  Raphael's  '  St  Cecilia/  Correggio's  ( St 
Jerome/  Raphael's  ( Transfiguration/  and  his 
'  Madonna  della  Sedia/  Titian's  '  Martyrdom  of 
St  Peter  Martyr/  Van  Eyck's  e  Adoration  of  the 
Lamb/  and  Domenichino's  'Last  Communion  of 
St  Jerome.'  Indeed  Napoleon  took  toll  of  twenty 
pictures  from  Modena,  twenty  from  Parma, 
forty  from  Bologna,  ten  from  Ferrara,  and  many 
from  Rome  and  other  Italian  cities. 

The  beautiful  collection  of  early  Italian  paint- 
ings has  gained  by  the  fact  that  they  were 
actually  so  lightly  thought  of  that  many  were 
left,  as  not  worth  returning  to  Italy.  Among  these 
treasures  is  Fra  Angelico's  '  Couronnement  de  la 
Vierge/  Albertinelli's  '  Vierge  et  1'Enfant  Jesus/ 
Bronzino's  '  Christ  and  the  Magdalene,'  Cimabue's 
( Madonna/  Giotto's c  St  Fra^ois  d'Assise  recevant 

78 


THE    PAINTINGS 

les  Stigmates/  Gozzoli's  'Triomphe  de  Saint 
Thomas  d'Aquin/  Lippi's  'Vierge  et  1'Enfant 
Jesus/  Credi's  'Vierge  et  1'Enfant  Jesus/  Man- 
tegna's  '  Calvaire/  and  Perugino's  '  St  Paul.' 

Under  Louis  XVIII.  the  State  Collection  was 
increased  by  the  considerable  outlay  of  over 
£26,000,  but  under  Charles  X.  and  Louis  Philippe 
very  little  was  done  in  the  interests  of  the 
Louvre.  Under  the  Second  Republic  something 
was  annually  devoted  to  painting,  while  extra 
grants  were  made  on  occasion.  Thus  at  the  sale 
of  Marshal  Soult's  pictures,  in  1852,  £24,6 12  was 
spent ;  among  the  pictures  bought  being  Murillo's 
'  Immaculate  Conception/ 

During  the  Second  Empire  the  Campana 
collection  added  two  hundred  early  Italian 
paintings  to  the  gallery,  and  La  Caze,  whose 
paintings  are  now  hung  together  in  the  Salle 
La  Caze,  left  to  the  Louvre  no  less  than  two 
hundred  and  seventy-five  paintings,  chiefly  of  the 
eighteenth-century  French  school.  This  brilliant 
collector,  who  was  without  a  very  strong  bent 
for  any  one  school,  was  also  the  donor  of  the 
'  Pied  Bot '  by  Ribera,  and  works  by  Tintoretto 
and  Velasquez.  Duchatel,  Galleaux,  Lallement 
Pommery,  Moreaux  Malecot,  and  La  Tremoille 

79 


THE    LOUVRE 

are  other  donors.  Another  important  legacy  was 
that  of  M.  Thorny  Thiery,  an  Englishman  droll 
enough  to  abandon  his  nationality,  yet  wise 
enough  to  choose  France  for  his  adopted  country, 
of  which  he  became  naturalised.  He  left  to  the 
Louvre  some  valuable  paintings  of  the  Barbizon 
school,  beautiful  examples  of  nineteenth-century 
French  art.  His  legacy  is  hung  on  the  second 
floor  of  the  Louvre,  in  attics  distinguished  in 
summer  by  unendurable  heat. 

The  last  important  legacy  is  that  of  the 
Chauchard  Collection,  left  to  the  nation  by  M. 
Chauchard,  the  founder  of  the  Magazin  du 
Louvre,  who  died  in  1909.  The  collection,  which 
by  the  terms  of  his  will  has  to  be  kept  together, 
is  housed  towards  the  west  end  of  the  south 
wing  of  the  Louvre,  in  rooms  vacated  by  the 
Ministere  des  Colonies.  It  is  a  magnificent  col- 
lection of  nineteenth-century  French  paintings, 
in  which  the  Louvre  is  already  rich.  Millet's 
celebrated  'L'Angelus'  hangs  here,  with  very 
beautiful  Corots,  some  other  fine  Millets,  and 
paintings  by  Daubigny  and  all  the  important 
French  painters,  especially  of  the  Barbizon  school. 

There  is  in  the  north  wing  of  the  Louvre, 
housed  in  the  Musee  des  Arts  Decoratifs,  a 
80 


THE   PAINTINGS 

collection  of  French  paintings  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  Collection  Moreau-Nelaton,  which 
will  become  the  property  of  the  Louvre  in  a  few 
years. 

It  is  a  mercifully  small  show,  containing  fine 
and  well-known  pictures.  Carriere  is  at  his  best, 
and  how  good  that  is.  Here  also  is  Manet's  well- 
known  picnic  scene. 

The  Government  of  the  Third  Republic  is 
showing  itself  wise  in  its  patronage  of  art,  and 
modern  painting  is  as  much  encouraged  as  the 
buying  of  old  masters.  The  works  of  living  artists 
are  housed  in  the  Luxembourg,  and  transferred  to 
the  Louvre  (which  does  not  admit  the  works  of 
living  men)  a  few  years  after  their  death,  if  a 
cool  judgment  counts  them  worthy,  or,  failing 
that,  they  go  to  provincial  museums. 

Among  recent  purchases  have  been  the  Morris 
Moore  Raphael  now  attributed  to  Perugino,  and 
bought  in  1883  for  £8000,  Chardin's  '  Child  with 
a  Top '  and  his  f  Youth  with  a  Violin,'  bought  for 
£14,000,  and  Memling's '  Portrait  of  an  Old  Lady/ 
bought  for  £8000.  The  Louvre  now  contains 
over  two  thousand  eight  hundred  oil  and 
tempera  paintings. 

In  1897  the  Sociele  des  Amis  du  Louvre  was 
F  81 


THE    LOUVRE 

started  to  aid  in  buying  works  of  art  for  the 
nation.  Among  their  chief  purchases  has  been 
Piero  dei'  Franceschi's  '  Vierge  et  r Enfant  Jesus.' 

Great  and  furious  have  been  the  discussions 
which  have  raged  since  the  opening  of  the 
museum.  Awful  are  the  stories  told  of  pictures 
restored  and  ruined,  endless  the  arguments 
about  order  and  position.  Even  in  1911^  after 
the  loss  of  the  ( Joconde,'  the  museum  was  the 
scene  of  a  tremendous  upheaval.  Luckless 
scapegoats  were  found,  but  the  truth  seemed  to 
be  that  the  whole  administration  of  the  Louvre 
was  deplorably  lax.  During  the  inquiry  for  the 
{ Joconde,'  it  was  discovered  that  there  had  been 
several  small  thefts  which  had  actually  never 
been  noticed :  objects  were  returned  which  had 
been  taken  from  the  rooms  containing  smaller 
Egyptian  antiquities  simply  to  show  how  defence- 
less the  great  Louvre  lay. 

Now  a  reorganisation  is  said  to  have  taken 
place  ;  and  as  part  of  it  the  policing  of  the  Louvre 
is  entrusted  to  dogs  as  well  as  the  human 
guardians.  All  day  long  these  yellow  beasts,  small, 
infinitely  fierce,  lie  a-sunning  in  the  Cour  Visconti, 
ready  to  wander  through  the  Louvre  by  night. 

The  south  wing  of  the  Louvre  has  now  been 
82 


THE    PAINTINGS 

entirely  emptied  of  the  government  offices,  and 
it  is  proposed  to  hang  in  some  of  the  rooms  thus 
vacated  various  pictures  which,  for  want  of  room, 
have  long  been  stored  away  in  the  attics  of  the 
Louvre. 

Though  attention  is  more  centred  in  the 
Italian  school  of  painting  than  in  the  French,  it 
seems  more  reasonable  to  think  first  of  the 
French  painting  in  a  French  gallery.  Nowhere 
else  can  the  French  School1  be  studied  so  well  as 
in  the  Louvre,  where,  from  the  f  Mar  tyre  de 
Saint  Denis/  by  Jean  Malouel  and  Henri 
Bellechose,  to  the  brilliant  collections  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  so  many  paintings  are  set 
forth. 

Almost  the  earliest  French  paintings  in  the 
Louvre  are  portraits  of  Charles  V.  and  Jeanne 
de  Bourbon,  painted  in  the  fourteenth  century  ; 
the  period  at  which  French  painting  began  to 
emerge  from  its  origin  in  the  art  of  miniature 
painting  in  illuminated  books,  or,  even  earlier,  in 

1  The  pictures  of  the  French  school  are  hung  in  Salles  X., 
XL,  XII.,  XIII.,  XIV.,  XV.,  XVI.,  VIII.,  I.,  II.,  III.  The 
Chauchard  Collection  is  approached  from  the  Salle  Rubens, 
the  Thorny  Thiery  legacy  and  other  nineteenth-century 
French  paintings,  are  hung  on  the  second  floor. 

83 


THE    LOUVRE 

ornamental  and  decorative  work.  '  Le  Christ  mort 
soutenu  par  le  Pere  eternel  et  la  Vierge/  a 
work  by  Malouel,  also  shows  the  struggle  of  the 
young  art  to  escape  from  its  harsh  Byzantine 
swaddling  clothes  to  a  condition  of  life  and 
faithfulness,  though  hampered  by  an  immense 
ignorance  of  technique.  But  these  pictures,  and 
others  of  the  early  French  school,  show  an  earn- 
estness, a  seeking  after  truth  in  their  manner  of 
depicting  life  which  shows  what  a  quickening 
influence  was  at  work.  The  fifteenth  century  saw 
an  amazing  advance  in  power.  There  is  a  charming 
*  Vierge  et  I'Enfant  Jesus/  and  a  f  Christ  descendu 
de  la  Croix,'  which  both  show  the  progress  which 
had  been  made.  The  work  of  Jean  Fouquet 
(1415-1485),  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  French 
painters,  and  one  of  the  chief,  can  be  studied  in 
his  '  Juvenal  des  Ursins,'  while  his  '  Charles  VII. ' 
is  a  grim  piece  of  portraiture  of  which  few  people 
could  deny  the  force.  There  is,  too,  a  striking 
portrait  of  a  woman,  by  an  unknown  French 
painter  of  the  fifteenth  century,  which  is  full  of 
distinction  and  beauty.  A  scroll  on  the  back- 
ground reads :  '  De  quoilque  non  vede,  yo  my 
recorde '  (I  remember  those  I  do  not  see). 

The   sixteenth  century  saw   the   two   Clouets 

84 


THE   PAINTINGS 

painting,  Jean,  and  Francois  his  son.  To  Jean, 
who  was  court  painter  to  Francois  Ier,  is  due 
a  remarkable  portrait  of  that  monarch :  while 
Fra^ois  is  best  studied  in  his  portraits  of 
Elizabeth  d'Autriche  and  Charles  IX.  They  were 
followed  by  a  host  of  painters  whose  portraits 
especially  are  noteworthy. 

But  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  saw  the 
influence  of  Italian  art  creeping  in ;  and  the 
French  school  began  to  form  conventions  which 
took  from  it  that  first  morning  light,  which  so 
pleasantly  illumined  the  pictures  of  the  fourteenth, 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  the  school  of 
Fontainebleau  was  in  its  prime,  a  school  which 
confined  art  within  narrow  bounds,  and  shared 
the  decadence  which  was  upon  Italian  art.  Poussin 
(1594-1665)  stood  up  resistant  of  all  these  numbing 
influences,  and  the  Louvre  is  fortunate  in  having 
thirty-nine  of  his  pictures ;  of  which  e  Diogene 
jetant  son  Ecuelle '  is  perhaps  the  finest,  and  has 
found  a  place  in  the  Salon  Carre.  Claude  Gellee, 
le  Lorrain  (1 600-1 682),  who  like  Poussin  studied 
art  in  Rome,  and,  like  Poussin,  preserved  himself 
from  the  deadening  influence  of  the  moment,  has 
seventeen  canvases  in  the  Louvre.  His  mar- 

8s 


THE    LOUVRE 

vellous   power   over   light   is   shown  in  his  '  La 
Debarquement     de      Cleop^Altre     a     Tarse,'      his 

<  Ulysse  remet  Chryseis  a  son  Pere,'  one  of  his 
finest  paintings,  and  in  his  fVue  d'un    Port  de 
Mer,'  which  is  so  beautiful  an  effect  of  sunshine 
veiled  in  fog.    Pierre  Mignard  (1 610-1 695)  is  a 
portrait  painter  worthy  of  notice. 

Eustache  Lesueur  or  Le  Sueur  (1 617-1 655)  is 
almost  too  present  in  the  Louvre.  To  some  people 
he  is  merely  a  painter  of  grandiose  pictures  of  an 
odious  colouring  ;  to  others  again  he  is  a  restrained 
and  thoughtful  painter  of  a  reserved  charm  and 
distinction.  His  best-known  pictures  are  the 
series  of  twenty-two  paintings  from  the  life  of 
St  Bruno,  which  hang  alone  in  Salle  XII. 

Charles  Le  Brun  (1 619-1 690),  that  'admirable 
Crichton,'  with  his  talent  as  painter,  architect, 
engraver,  decorator,  organiser,  has  in  the  Louvre 
many  canvases ;  but  his  qualities  show  better  at 
Versailles,  where  his  decorations  have  that  milieu 
which  they  demand.  Premier  peintre  to  Louis  XIV. 
founder  of  the  Academic  Royale,  he  was  dictator 
of  art  in  France.  The  Louvre  has  his  horrible 
'  Christ  Mort,'  but  also  happier  examples  of  his 
work,  such  as  the  'Bataille  d'Arbelles,'  and  the 

<  Entree  d'Alexandre  dans  Babylone.' 

86 


THE    PAINTINGS 

Hyacinthe  Rigaud  (1659-1743)  has  portraits 
which  are  at  least  of  value  as  faithful  docu- 
ments, animated  by  immense  intelligence.  The 
brothers  Lenain  or  Le  Nain  (1588-1677),  An- 
toine,  Louis  and  Mathieu,  are  remarkable  as 
realists  in  an  age  of  convention.  While  artists 
were  clinging  to  rule,  and  obeying  Le  Brun,  the 
brothers  Lenain  were  painting  the  peasants  who 
lived  round  them,  uncompromisingly  tearing 
away  the  sham  to  substitute  for  it  the  real.  Their 
(  Repas  des  Paysans,'  a  wonderful  group  in  greys, 
in  which  every  figure,  every  face,  tells  its  own 
story  of  mingled  family  likeness  and  dissimilarity, 
is  a  masterpiece.  It  hangs  in  the  Salle  La  Caze. 
The  '  Procession  dans  une  Eglise,'  is  another  of 
their  pictures  which  receives  warm  praise  for  its 
technique  and  interest.  '  La  Forge/  a  picture 
intensely  truthful  in  effect,  is  yet  another  of  their 
ten  pictures  in  the  Louvre. 

The  eighteenth  century  saw  the  influence  of 
Watteau  (1684-1721)  supreme,  not  in  the  same 
official  sense  as  Le  Brun,  who  from  his  position 
forced  everyone  into  his  camp,  but  supreme  in 
the  influence  he  exercised.  His  best-known  picture 
in  the  Louvre  is  '  Gilles,'  a  portrait  of  one  of  the 
actors  in  the  Com^die  Italienne.  It  is  truly  a 

87 


THE    LOUVRE 

marvellous  painting;  the  spectator  tries,  and 
tries  in  vain,  to  wrest  from  the  strange  enigmatic 
youth  that  secret  which  is  hidden  behind  his 
mocking  world  weary  face.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  portraits  ever  painted,  it  hangs  well 
in  the  Salle  La  Gaze  with  other  of  his  paintings. 
The  '  Embarquement  pour  Cythere,'  the  work  of  a 
fairy  poet,  in  the  Galerie  Daru,  is  only  the  cele- 
brated study  for  Watteau's  painting  now  in 
Germany. 

Boucher  (1703-1770)  is  a  painter  not  seen  at 
his  best  in  any  gallery,  though  the  Louvre  has 
his  charming  'Olympe,'  and  his  '  Vulcan  et 
Venus/  His  work  needs  those  highly  artificial, 
highly  attractive,  surroundings  for  which  he 
painted  his  beautiful  scenes,  which  truly  formed 
part  of  the  decoration  of  the  rooms  for  which 
they  were  designed ;  it  is  as  a  colourist  that  he 
excelled.  Something  of  this  can  be  seen  in  the 
rooms  of  the  Archives  Nationales. 

Chardin  (1699-1779)  is  a  curiously  different 
example  of  the  same  age  in  the  French  school. 
A  painter  absolutely,  decoration  had  no  appeal 
for  him.  His  was  the  faithful  genius  which 
glorified  that  which  lay  before  him.  His  studies 
of  middle-class  life  are  so  tenderly  true  that  the 
88 


PORTRAIT  D'  UN  VIEILLARD  ET  DE  SON  PKTITS-FII.S 

Gh  irla  n  da  io 


THE    PAINTINGS 

mental  image  of  them  is  one  of  peace.  The 
Salle  La  Caze  contains  a  group  of  his  pictures 
which  alone  would  make  the  room  noteworthy. 
( O  Chardin ! '  cries  Diderot,  '  it  is  not  colour  that 
you  mix  on  your  palette.  It  is  the  very  substance, 
it  is  air  and  light  that  you  take  on  your  brush 
and  place  on  the  canvas.'  His  '  Chateau  de 
Cartes/  his  '  Mere  Laborieuse,'  the  delicate 
'  Benedicite,'  are  all  beautiful.  Duplessis'  delicious 
'  Portrait  of  a  Woman  in  Blue  '  smiles  from  the 
wall  near  by. 

Indeed  the  eighteenth-century  paintings  of 
the  Salle  La  Caze  and  Galerie  Daru  are  full  of 
pleasure  for  the  onlooker.  Lancret,  with  his 
brilliant f  Acteurs  de  la  Comedie  Italienne  ' ;  Pater, 
Van  Loo,  Hubert  Robert,  Joseph  Vernet  are  all 
painters  of  distinction.  Fragonard  (1732-1806) 
is  at  his  best  as  regards  the  Louvre  in  the  Salle 
La  Caze ;  how  delicate  and  attractive  are  his 
canvases,  to  what  a  pleasant  country  he  takes  us. 
The  '  Chemise  enlevee/  one  of  his  masterpieces, 
with  his  splendid  '  Buveur,'  the  '  Lecon  de 
Musique/  and  his  '  Bacchante  endormie/  are  all 
delightful. 

Greuze  (1725-1805),  '  inventeur  de  la  peinture  a 
sujetSy  has  so  much  that  is  painful  in  his  work  that 


THE    LOUVRE 

it  is  a  relief  to  turn  to  his  '  La  Laitiere '  and  '  La 
Cruche  Cassee/  though  modern  taste  is  setting 
against  them  as  meretricious. 

To  the  early  nineteenth  century  belong  the 
portraits  of  Madame  Vigee-Lebrun.  Her  best- 
known  portrait,  a  picture  of  herself  and  her  child, 
is  in  the  Salle  des  Portraits ;  a  hardly  less  charm- 
ing version  of  the  same  subject  is  in  the  Galerie 
Daru,  with  her  '  Madame  Mole  Raymond.' 

David  (1748-1825)  is  a  painter  whose  fame  was 
great,  and  his  influence  greater.  His  paintings 
seem  to  derive  their  force  from  antique  models, 
his  figures  to  be  taken  from  sculpture;  nature 
had  no  hold  on  his  imagination.  His  immense 
canvases  are  covered  by  Homeric  scenes.  It  is 
in  the  Salle  des  Sept-Cheminees  that  Jacques 
Louis  David  is  seen  at  his  best.  Here  is  his 
masterpiece,  the  f  Sabines  arretant  le  Combat 
entre  les  Romanes  et  les  Sabines/  and  his 
immense  'Sacre  de  Napoleon  et  de  Josephine/ 
a  painting  ordered  by  Napoleon.  His  beautiful 
'  Madame  Recamier '  is  a  painting  which  shows 
how  brilliant  a  portrait  painter  he  was.  What  a 
splendid  portrait  too  is  that  of  '  Madame  Morel  de 
Tangry  and  her  Daughters ' ;  and  his  picture  of 
himself,  of  Pius  VII.,  and  of  the  very  living 
90 


THE   PAINTINGS 

Madame  Pecoul,  are  magnificent.  Near  them  is 
Benoist's  '  Negresse/  a  marvellous  presentment  of 
coloured  skin.  Gros  (1771-1835),  with  his  haunting 
e  Bonaparte  a  Arcole/  and  his  '  Champ  de  Bataille 
d'Eylau '  is  to  be  remembered.  Prud'hon's 
(1758-1823)  '  Imperatrice  Josephine'  is  a  portrait 
which  places  him  high  among  French  portrait 
painters ;  in  this  same  room  is  his  e  Enlevement 
de  Psyche/  and  his  ( Justice  et  la  Vengeance 
Divine  poursuivant  le  Crime/  Gericault's  (1791- 
1824)  horrible  '  Radeau  de  la  Meduse/  interesting 
as  showing  a  revolt  against  the  classicism  imposed 
by  David,  is  here,  with  his  e  Epsom  Races.' 

Gerard  (1770-1837),  whose  celebrated  <  Psyche 
et  1' Amour'  is  also  in  the  Salle  des  Sept-Cheminees, 
cannot  be  neglected.  This  picture  especially  has 
passed  through  many  vicissitudes.  It  hung  in  the 
Salon  Carre,  and  was  a  picture  lauded  beyond  all 
reason,  at  a  moment  when  the  classical  convention 
was  carrying  all  before  it.  Then  followed  an  inter- 
val when  no  scorn  was  too  great  to  heap  on  this 
unhappy  painting,  which  has  now,  howrever,  to 
some  extent  recovered  its  position.  Though 
a  painting  of  'a  neo-classic  grace  which  is  both 
delicate  and  refined/  it  is  a  singularly  soulless 
work, 


THE    LOUVRE 

Ingres  (1780-186?)  seems  to  be  a  painter  per- 
ceptibly nearer  to  our  day.  He  too  was  greatly 
influenced  by  the  classic  ideals  of  his  time.  His 
e  La  Source/  in  the  Salle  Duchatel,  is  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  paintings  in  the  Louvre.  Near  it 
hangs  the  hardly  less  well-known  ( QEdipe  et  le 
Sphinx.'  His  '  Odalisque  couchee/  hung  in  Salle 
VIII.,  a  hard  piece  of  painting,  challenges  Manet's 
6  Olympia '  and  suffers  in  the  comparison.  The 
influence  Ingres  has  had  on  modern  painting 
cannot  be  over  estimated.  His  work  as  a  portrait 
painter  is  very  remarkable ;  the  portraits  of  M. 
and  Madame  Riviere  are  good  examples. 

Eugene  Delacroix  (1798-1863)  has  now  perhaps 
outshone  Ingres  in  the  estimation  of  the  public. 
Always  the  two  seemed  to  be  in  artistic  opposition. 
Delacroix,  that  painter  with  fan  intoxicated 
broom/  as  his  critics  assert,  saw  everything  as 
colour.  His  ceiling, '  Apollon  vainqueur  du  Serpent 
Python/  is  in  the  Galerie  d' Apollon ;  and  his 
wonderful  mastery  of  colour  and  movement  is 
also  represented  by  various  pictures,  among  them 
the  '  Prise  de  Constantinople  par  les  Croises/  the 
(  Barque  de  Don  Juan/  and  the  ( Noce  Juive  au 
Maroc.' 

The  Salle  Henri  II.  is  worth  visiting  to  see 
92 


THE    PAINTINGS 

Courbet's  (1819-1877)  much-discussed  master- 
piece,, the  *  Enterremeiit  a  Ornans/  a  great 
picture  which  steadily  gains  one's  unwilling 
approval.  From  this  dark  room,  one  of  the  apart- 
ments of  the  Valois  kings,  the  site  of  the  chapel 
of  Charles  V.,  one  may  look  down  on  the  Cour  du 
Vieux  Louvre,  and  see  how  good  it  is ;  and  trace 
on  the  pavement  below,  the  white  rings  which 
mark  the  site  of  the  Grosse  Tour :  while  from 
the  farther  window  the  view  extends  up  past 
the  long  grey  lines  of  the  Nouveau  Louvre,  over 
the  green  trees  along  the  Jardin  des  Tuileries,  to 
the  Arc  de  Triomphe  de  1'Etoile. 

Later  nineteenth-century  French  art  can  be 
studied  admirably  in  the  Louvre,  thanks  especi- 
ally to  the  legacies  Thomy-Thiery  and  Chauchard, 
the  Collection  Moreau-Nelaton  and  the  contents 
of  Salle  VIII.  Theodore  Rousseau,  Corot,  Millet, 
Daubigny,  Diaz  de  la  Pefia,  Isabey,  Meissonier, 
Chintreuil,  Troyon,  Boulanger,  Flandrin,  Carriere, 
Fantin-Latour,  Monet,  Manet,  Ricard,  Sisley, 
Pissarro,  are  all  represented.  Millet's  '  Les 
Glaneuses'  hangs  in  Salle  VIII.  The  same  hall 
shelters  Manet's  brilliant  ( Olympia.' 

The  Louvre  is  extraordinarily  rich  in  paintings 
93 


THE    LOUVRE 

of  the  Italian  school,  and  many  of  the  finest  hang 
in  the  Salon  Carre,  where  it  has  been  the  tradi- 
tional policy  of  the  Louvre  to  place  its  chiefest 
masterpieces.  There  is  a  room  too  off  the  Grande 
Galerie,  the  Salle  des  Primitifs  Italiens,  in  which 
are  gathered  together  early  Italian  paintings 
of  the  greatest  charm. 

Here  hangs  a  painting  attributed  to  Cimabue 
(1240-1302),  his  (  Vierge  aux  Anges,'  the  earliest 
painting  in  the  Louvre,  and  near  it  is  Giotto's 
(1276-1336)  '  Saint  Fra^ois  d'Assise  recevant 
les  Stigmates.'  Close  by  are  the  pictures  by 
Fra  Angelico  (1387-1455):  the  <  Martyre  de 
Cosine  et  Damien/  and  the  lovely  '  Couronnement 
de  la  Vierge/  a  painting  of  marvellous  colour. 
Near  them  is  Pisano's  (1380-1451)  '  Portrait  d'une 
Priiicesse  de  la  Maison  d'Este,'  a  charming 
demoiselle.  Domenico  Ghirlandaio  (1449-1494) 
is  here  with  his  '  Portrait  d'un  Vieillard  et  de  son 
Petit-fils,'  a  picture  for  all  time  full  of  the  rarest 
beauty  of  the  soul.  ( Lorenzo  di  Credi's  ( J  459-1 537) 
'Madone/  and  Botticelli's  (1447-1510)  '  Vierge 
et  1' Enfant  Jesus,'  a  painting  bought  by  Louis 
XVIIL,  Filippo  Lippi's  (1412?— 1469)  'Madone,' 
Benedetto  Ghirlandaio's  (1458-1499)  cLe  Christ 
marchant  au  Calvaire,'  are  but  a  few  of  the 

94 


THE    PAINTINGS 

pictures  which  make  this  room  the  goal  of  many 
an  artistic  pilgrimage. 

In  the  Salon  Carre  and  the  Grande  Galerie  are 
the  remainder  of  the  Italian  pictures,  a  collection 
rich  in  masters  of  the  Cinquecento ;  except  those 
of  the  decadence,  which  are  hung  in  Salle  IX. 

Here  in  the  Salon  Carre  hung  Leonardo  da 
Vinci's  (1452-1519)  'La  Joconde/  the  loss  of 
which  is  irreparable.  This  smiling  woman,  who 
has  told  such  different  stories  to  different  souls, 
is  probably  the  most  famous  portrait  of  the 
world.  But  all  the  resources  of  the  Louvre  were 
unable  to  keep  her  when  the  conqueror  came. 
In  August  1911  the  ' Joconde'  disappeared;  the 
'  Mona  Lisa '  was  not.  So  strange  are  the  regula- 
tions of  the  Louvre  that  pictures  could  be  moved 
for  photographic  purposes  without  any  warning 
to  the  guardians  of  the  gallery  ;  and  so,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  the  '  Joconde '  had  a  special 
caretaker,  many  hours  passed  before  those 
responsible  for  the  pictures  inquired  where  she 
lay.  Then  began  the  hue  and  cry,  but  of  what 
avail  since  the  theft  was  cold.  The  fine  sixteenth- 
century  frame  was  found  flung  down  near  an 
exit  far  from  the  Salon  Carre,  the  canvas,  care- 
fully removed,  has  absolutely  vanished.  To  lift 

95 


THE    LOUVRE 

the  'Joconde'  from  its  place  was  easy,  the 
pictures  are  lightly  hung  for  fear  of  fire,  but 
to  carry  it  away  unseen  was  another  matter. 
The  Louvre  was  closed,  a  rigorous  search  began. 
Even  the  highest  officials  of  the  Louvre  had 
never  known  how  vast  a  network  of  hidden 
doors,  cupboards  and  tiny  rooms  existed.  Inflam- 
mable matter,  old  straw  packing,  wood,  lay  stuffed 
away  in  every  hidden  place,  ready  to  give  the 
Louvre  over  to  fire ;  carelessness  and  confi- 
dence had  reigned  supreme.  But  of  '  La  Joconde ' 
not  a  trace.  All  Paris  was  astir,  someone's  head 
was  demanded,  someone's  head  was  offered  up 
on  a  newspaper,  but  the  ' Joconde'  has  never 
returned.  There  be  those  that  comfort  themselves 
by  seeing  in  the  loss  a  political  plot  to  injure  the 
prestige  of  the  Republic,  and  murmur  that  the 
'  Camelots  du  roi '  could  say,  an  they  would,  where 
the  '  Joconde  '  is. 

Truly  the  Italian  pictures  in  the  Louvre  are 
an  endless  pageant  of  beauty.  There  are  in 
the  Salon  Carre  Raphael's  (1483-1620)  <  La  Belle 
Jardiniere,'  painted  at  Florence  in  1507,  da  Vinci's 
( Sainte  Anne/  in  which  the  Virgin  has  in  her  face 
something  of  the  'Joconde/  Titian's  (1477-1576) 
beautiful  '  Maitresse  du  Titien/  often  identified  as 


ANTIOPE 

Correggio 


AI.PHONSE  DE  FERRARA  ET  LAURA  DE  DIANTI 

Titian 


THE    PAINTINGS 

Laura  de  Dianti  and  the  Duke  Alfonso  of  Ferrara. 
Raphael's  '  Count  Baldassare  Castiglione/  hang- 
ing in  the  place  of  <  La  Joconde/  and  that  picture 
of  the  '  Repas  chez  Simon  le  Pharisien '  painted 
by  Paolo  Veronese  (1528-1588)  in  1570-1575. 
Here  too  is  his  immense  '  Noces  de  Cana/  e  a 
symphony  in  colours/  painted  for  the  refectory 
of  San  Giorgio  Maggiore,  at  Venice.  Veronese 
is  himself  among  the  musicians,  in  white, 
Tintoretto  is  another  figure  playing  on  a  viol, 
Titian  is  depicted  with  a  bass  viol. 

Titian's  'L'Homme  au  Gant'  is  here,  and  his 
'  Fran9ois  Ier/  remarkable  as  a  painting  done  with- 
out a  sitting,  but  brilliantly  successful.  Raphael's 
'  St  Michel  terrassant  le  Demon/  and  Correggio's 
(1494-1534)  '  Sommeil  d'Antiope/  are  all  among 
the  treasures  hung  in  this  room. 

Much  of  the  Grande  Galerie  is  given  up  to 
the  Italian  school.  Here  is  Mantegna  (1431-1506), 
with  his  'Le  Parnasse/  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
mythological  pictures;  wherein  the  Muses  are 
entwined  in  the  dance  to  the  lyre  of  Apollo, 
round  that  high  place  from  which  Mars  and 
Venus  look  out  on  a  world  where  beauty  is 
supreme.  The  blue-green  background  of  this 
painting  is  surely  perfect.  Here  too  is  his 
G  97 


THE    LOUVRE 

remarkable  'Sagesse  victorieuse  des  Vices/  and 
his  ( Vierge  de  la  Victoire.'  Perugino's  (1446-1524) 
'  Combat  de  1' Amour  et  de  la  Chastete '  his  '  Saint 
Sebastien/  and  e  La  Vierge '  are  good  examples 
of  this  gracious  Umbrian  master.  Lorenzo  Costa' s 
(1460-1535)  allegory  of  the  '  Cour  d'Isabelle 
d'Este/  which  comes  from  the  Paradise,  the  rooms 
of  Isabella  d'Este  in  the  Corte  Reale,  at  Mantua, 
is  another  picture  of  great  interest.  Near  it  is 
'  L'Homme  en  Noir/  a  remarkable  portrait  by 
an  unknown  painter.  Da  Vinci's  '  Saint  Jean '  and 
his  enigmatic  e  Bacchus/  both  painted  from  the 
same  model,  are  hung  near  his  '  Vierge  aux 
Rochers/  and  his  striking  '  Lucrezia  Crivelli.' 

Luini  (living  in  1530)  is  represented  by 
beautiful  frescoes  in  the  Salle  Duchatel,  and 
in  the  Grande  Galerie  hang  his  easel  paintings. 
Here  is  his  ( Sainte  Famille/  his  '  Salome/  and 
the  '  Sommeil  de  1'Enfant  Jesus.'  Andrea  Solario 
(1458-1530)  is  represented  by  a  delicious  '  Vierge 
au  Coussin  Vert/ 

Raphael,  whose  pictures  in  the  Salon  Carre 
have  already  been  mentioned,  can  be  better 
studied  in  the  Louvre  than  in  any  other  gallery. 
His  early  paintings,  the  small  '  St  Michel'  and 
the  '  Saint  Georges/  are  examples  of  his  Florentine 


THE    PAINTINGS 

period  ;  his  '  Vierge  du  Diademe  Bleu/  his  ( Sainte 
Famille  de  Frai^ois  ler '  (Salon  Carre)  are  all 
fine  examples  of  his  power.  e  St  Michel  terrassant 
le  Demon/  given  by  Pope  Leo  X.  to  the  King 
of  France,  is  partly  the  work  of  his  pupils. 

Andrea  del  Sarto's  (1487-1531)  'Charite'  is 
another  of  the  celebrated  pictures  of  this  gallery. 
Correggio  has  a  very  beautiful e  Mariage  Mystique 
de  Sainte  Catherine,'  as  well  as  his  fine  '  Antiope.' 
No  painter  is  so  well  represented  in  the  Louvre 
as  Titian.  Besides  the  pictures  in  the  Salon  Carre 
the  Louvre  has,  among  others,  his  '  Vierge  au 
Lapin/  his  '  Christ  couronne  d'Epines/  and  his 
'Jupiter  et  Antiope/  an  unrivalled  collection  of 
masterpieces  which  would  alone  render  a  gallery 
famous. 

Giorgione  (1477-1511)  has  in  the  Louvre  his 
beautiful '  Concert  Champetre  '  from  the  collection 
of  Louis  XIV. ;  a  painting  celebrated  for  its 
wonderful  glow  of  mellow  colour. 

In  the  Salon  Carre  is  Tintoretto's  (1512-1598) 
'  Suzanne  au  Bain/  a  picture  which  hardly  does 
justice  to  this  painter,  fine  though  it  is.  The 
Louvre  also  possesses  his  ( Paradis.' 

Paolo  Veronese  has  a  e  Portrait  de  Femme/ 
'  Pelerins  d'Emmaiis/  '  Jupiter  foudroyant  les 

99 


THE    LOUVRE 

Crimes/  and  an  <  Incendie  de  Sodome/  as  well  as 
the  other  paintings  of  the  Salon  Carre.  Palma 
Vecchio  (1480-1528)  has  a  fine  <  Adoration '  in  the 
Grande  Galerie.  Guido  Reni  (1575-1642),  and 
Salvator  Rosa  (1 615-1 673),  who  both  have  their 
admirers,  are  represented  in  several  canvases 
with  the  other  masters  of  the  decadent  period. 

In  the  Grande  Galerie  are  hung  the  pictures 
of  the  Spanish  school,  of  which  also  there  are  a 
few  examples  in  the  Salle  La  Caze.  Nowhere  out 
of  Spain  can  Spanish  art  be  better  examined  than 
in  the  Louvre,  but  the  collection  is  small,  though 
rich  in  pictures  by  Murillo.  The  sixteenth  century 
saw  the  rise  of  Spanish  painting,  and  the  earliest 
Spanish  picture  in  the  Louvre  is  '  Christ  portant 
sa  Croix'  by  Luis  Morales  (1509-1566). 
Theotocopuli,  or  Le  Greco  (1548-1625),  a 
painter  of  great  distinction  who  is  at  last 
receiving  the  admiration  he  merits,  has  two 
paintings  here — a  '  St  Francois  d'  Assise,'  and 
a  singularly  interesting  portrait  of  Ferdinand 
of  Aragon.  Francisco  de  Herrera  (1576-1656) 
has  a  gloomy  and  austere  painting  of  '  Saint 
Basile  dictant  sa  Doctrine/  Ribera  (1588-1656)  has 
in  the  Louvre  five  paintings,  among  them  '  Saint 
100 


THE   PAINTINGS 

Paul  Ermite/  '  Christ  an  Tombeau/  a  ghastly 
painting,  essentially  Spanish  in  temperament, 
and  the  charming  '  Adoration  des  Bergers.'  His 
'  Le  Pied-Bot/  one  of  the  most  striking  pictures 
in  the  Louvre  is  hung  in  the  Salle  La  Caze,  where, 
it  and  Watteau's  c  Gilles/  are  the  finest  things  in 
the  room.  Never  was  a  more  brilliant  rendering 
of  a  brave  spirit  rejoicing  in  his  place  in  the  sun. 

Zurbaran  (1598-1662)  has  several  paintings  of 
a  horrid  gloom,  among  them  the  unpleasant 
'  Funerailles  d'  un  Eveque.' 

Then  follow  the  paintings  of  Velasquez  (1599- 
1660),  '  le  plus  secret  de  tons  les  peintres.'  Of 
his  paintings  in  the  Louvre  the  authenticity 
of  some  is  doubted.  But  the  two  pictures  of  the 
Infanta,  one  in  the  Salle  La  Caze,  and  one,  the 
more  celebrated,  in  the  Salon  Carre,  and  the 
half-length  portrait  of  Philippe  IV.,  are 
certainly  his.  Probably  too  it  is  just  to  attribute 
to  him  the  full-length  'Philippe  IV.,'  and  the 
'  Reunion  de  Treize  Personnages.'  The  'Jeune 
Femme,'  in  the  Salle  La  Caze,  is  less  certain. 
The  '  Infante  Marie  Marguerite,'  the  charming 
portrait  of  the  child  who  afterwards  married 
Leopold  I.  of  Austria,  is  one  of  the  finest 
pictures  in  the  Louvre. 

101 


THE    LOUVRE 

Murillo  (1616-1682)  has  in  the  gallery  a 
celebrated  '  Conception  de  la  Vierge/  a  f  Naissance 
de  la  Vierge/  and  several  lesser  pictures.  Here 
too  is  his  e  Jeune  Meiidiant/  a  fine  study  of  the 
poverty  of  the  South.  His  quaint  '  Cuisine  des 
Anges '  is  also  noteworthy. 

Goya  (1746-1828),  that  remarkable  growth 
coming  at  a  decadent  period,  is  to  be  studied 
in  three  pictures :  the  indifferent  '  Portrait  de 
F.  Guillemardet/  the  (  Femme  a  1'Eventail/  and 
the  '  Jeune  Femme  Espagnole.' 

The  English  school  is  very  poorly  repre- 
sented in  the  Louvre,  which  has  only  about 
forty  canvases  in  all,  which  hang  in  the  Grande 
Galerie  near  the  Spanish  pictures.  Wilson  (1713- 
1782),  Constable  (1776-1836),  Romney  (1734- 
1802),  Lawrence  (1769-1830),  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds whose  '  Master  Hare'  is  here,  Opie  (1761- 
1807),  Morland  (1763-1804),  Turner,  Hoppner, 
(1759-1810),  Raeburn(l?5  -1823),  who  has  here 
his  '  Captain  Hay/  are  the  painters  whose 
pictures  can  be  seen.  Bonington  (1801-1828)  has 
some  interesting  canvases,  among  them  his 
'Mazarin  et  Anne  d'Autriche/  and  his  'Vue 
du  Pare  de  Versailles.' 

102 


THE   PAINTINGS 

Near  these  pictures  in  the  Grande  Galerie 
hang  the  paintings  of  the  German  school,  little 
better  represented  than  the  English  painters, 
though  there  are  several  fine  Holbeins.  There 
is  a  striking  '  Descente  de  Croix '  of  the  school  of 
Cologne,  and  a  few  other  early  paintings ;  then 
follow  Durer's  (1471-1528)  'Tete  d'Enfant/  and 
'Tete  de  Vieillard/  which  have  suffered  a  great 
change  of  colour. 

Lucas  Cranach  (1472-1553)  has  a  e  Venus  dans 
un  Pay  sage '  which  is  of  very  real  charm,  a  fasci- 
nating figure  in  a  red  hat,  walking  in  a  joyous 
landscape,  and  also  a  ( Portrait  d'Homme.'  Holbein 
(1497-1543)  has  eight  portraits  in  the  Louvre, 
among  them  his  celebrated  e  Erasmus/  of  the 
wonderful  hands,  and  the  '  Nicolas  Kratzer.'  His 
(  Guillaume  Warham '  is  a  copy  of  a  portrait  in 
England.  'Anne  de  Cleves'  and  fSir  Thomas 
More '  are  also  fine  portraits.  The  '  Anne  de  Cleves  ' 
is  sometimes  attributed  to  Gwyllim  Strete.  'Sir 
Richard  Southwell '  is  also  admirable,  but  prob- 
ably a  copy  of  the  picture  in  Florence. 

There  is  a  brilliant  and  painful ( Le  Flagellation/ 

a    painting    of    the    sixteenth    century    by    an 

unknown  painter,  an  ' Adoration*  by  Giltlinger, 

and  other  paintings  of  less  importance.  Angelica 

103 


THE    LOUVRE 

Kauffmann's  (1741-1807)  fine  portraits  of  the 
Baroness  Kriidener  and  her  daughter  are  note- 
worthy. 

Yet  farther  west  along  the  Grande  Galerie  are 
paintings  of  the  Flemish  school ;  and  the  Salle 
Rubens,  the  Salle  Van  Dyck,  and  the  cabinets 
round  the  Salle  Rubens  also  contain  Flemish 
paintings.  If  the  Louvre  is  not  rich  in  paintings 
of  the  early  period  it  contains  a  magnificent 
collection  of  later  work.  Jan  Van  Eyck's  (1380- 
1 440)  (  La  Vierge  au  Donateur/  with  the  figure 
of  the  donor,  Chancellor  Rollin,  in  the  foreground 
is  one  of  the  great  pieces  of  this  school ;  a 
painting  of  the  rarest  beauty  of  colouring  and 
expression.  As  a  portrait  too  the  Chancellor 
Rollin  ranks  high. 

Hans  Memling's  (1435-1494)  <  La  Vierge  et 
1'Enfant  Jesus  adores  par  des  Donateurs ' l  is 
another  painting  of  great  beauty,  and  a  marvel 
of  portraiture.  The  donors,  all  linked  together  in 
their  piety,  yet  maintain  each  a  splendid  individu- 
ality. Particularly  dear  are  those  girl  children 
whose  heads  are  raised  in  such  human  curiosity 
in  the  background. 

1  Hung  in  the  Salle  Duchatel. 
104 


U 


FERDINAND  D'  ARAGON 

El  Greco 


THE    PAINTINGS 

The  '  Banquier  et  sa  Femme,'  by  Quentin 
Matsys  (1466-1530),  is  another  of  those  paintings 
which  have  given  to  the  Flemish  school  its  great 
name.  The  remarkable  character  of  the  figures, 
no  less  than  the  painting  of  detail,  make  this 
picture  a  masterpiece  of  the  first  rank.  Pierre 
Brueghel  le  Vieux  (1525-1569)  has  here  his  extra- 
ordinary picture  of  fLes  Aveugles/  a  picture 
of  realism  not  to  be  forgotten,  and  his  hardly 
less  remarkable  'Mendiants.'  But  indeed  the 
splendid  collection  of  Flemish  paintings  make 
them  among  the  most  satisfying  things  in  the 
Louvre. 

The  Salle  Rubens  contains  the  matchless  series 
of  paintings  from  her  life  which  Marie  de  Medicis 
caused  Rubens  (1577-1640)  to  paint  for  her 
glorification.  These  twenty-one  great  canvases,  in 
which,  however,  Rubens  was  helped  by  his  pupils, 
were  executed  between  1622  and  1625,  to  hang  in 
the  Medicis  Palace  of  the  Luxembourg.  They 
were  brought  to  the  Louvre  under  Louis  XVIII- 
The  present  hall  was  especially  remodelled  to 
contain  them,  and  inaugurated  in  1900,  which 
makes  it  the  more  remarkable  that  for  three  of 
them  there  is  no  place,  and  they  are  hung  in  the 
Salle  Van  Dyck.  This  great  series  of  decorative 

105 


THE    LOUVRE 

paintings  are  not  the  only  Rubens'  \vhich  the 
Louvre  contains.  It  possesses  his  c  Helene  Four- 
ment  avec  deux  de  ses  Enfants/  his  'Tomyris/ 
his  e  Le  Christ  en  Croix/  ( Joanna  d'  Autriche/  and 
the ( Isabelle  Claire  d' Autriche.'  His  '  Kermesse/  a 
most  uncompromising  picture  of  local  manners,  is 
also  in  the  Louvre. 

Van  Dyck's  (1599-1641)  celebrated  picture  of 
Charles  Ier,  <  Le  Roi  a  la  Chasse/  ;is  in  the  Salle 
Van  Dyck ;  his  '  Francisco  de  Moncada  is  hardly 
less  fine.  In  the  same  room  are  several  of  his 
portraits :  '  Les  Enfants  de  Charles  Ier/  and  his 
'  Vierge  et  1'  Enfant  Jesus/ 

Jordaens  (1593-1678)  ruffles  it  at  the  Louvre 
in  his  e  Concert  apres  le  Repas/  his  '  Enfance  de 
Jupiter/  and  a  group  of  other  paintings. 

There  are  several  paintings  by  Brueghel  le 
Velours  (1568-1625)  and  a  fine  collection  of 
Teniers  (1610-1694),  many  of  them  the  gift  of 
M.  La  Caze  in  1869.  The  'Interieur  de  Cabaret/  the 
'  Enfant  Prodique/  and  the  *  Fete  du  Village '  are 
among  the  pictures  for  which  he  is  now  held  in 
honour  in  the  Louvre ;  despite  the  contempt  of 
Louis  XIV.  who  demanded,  speaking  of  Teniers' 
pictures,  that  one  should  '  otez-moi  tons  ces  magots.' 
Brouwer  (1605-1638),  too,  with  his  '  Fumeur/  his 
1 06 


THE    PAINTINGS 

'  Interieur  de  Cabaret  '  and  other  paintings,  may 
not  be  overlooked. 

The  Dutch  pictures,  hung  in  the  Grande 
Galerie  and  the  quiet  cabinets  round  the  Salle 
Rubens,  form  almost  as  fine  a  collection  as  those 
of  the  Flemish  school.  It  is  with  Moro  (1512-1576) 
that  the  Dutch  painting  in  the  Louvre  becomes 
interesting.  His  portrait  of  Louis  del  Rio  and 
wife,1  the  e  Nain  de  Charles-Quint/  and  his 
*  Edward  VI.'  are  all  worthy  representatives  of 
his  work.  Frans  Hals  (1584-1666)  has  here  his 
'  Famille  Van  Beresteyn '  his  '  Bohemienne/  that 
pleasant  laughing  girl,  and  his  '  Descartes/  as  well 
as  other  paintings,  but  the  Louvre  is  not  rich  in 
his  works. 

Rembrandt  Van  Ryn  (1606-1669)  has  twenty- 
two  pictures  in  these  rooms,  of  which  the  finest 
is  his  powerful  rPelerins  d'Emmaus.  The  'Beth- 
sabee '  also  is  a  fine  painting,  and  indeed  the 
Louvre  is  fortunate  in  possessing  several  of  his 
important  canvases,  among  them  the  beautiful 
e  Portrait  de  Femme '  which  George  Moore  says 
'  seems  as  if  it  had  been  breathed  upon  the 
canvas/  and  '  Rembrandt  Age.' 

1  In  the  Salle  Duchatel. 
107 


THE    LOUVRE 

Gerard  Dou  (1613-1680),  with  his  <  Femme 
Hydropique/  Maes  (l632-i693),  with  the  ( Bene- 
dicite/  Van  der  Neer  (1 603-1 677),  that  lover  of 
moonlit  landscape,  Adrien  van  Ostade  (1610- 
1685),  that  painter  who  so  loved  to  depict  the 
life  of  the  people,  Paul  Potter  whose  '  Prairie' 
is  one  of  his  finest  pictures,  Albert  Cuyp  (1620- 
1691),  Jacob  Ruysdael  (1628-1682),  with  his 
e  Tempete  sur  les  Dignes  *  and  his  (  Coup  de  Vent,' 
and  Du  Jardin  (1622-1 678)  with  his  brilliant 
( Charlatans  Italiens/  are  all  worthily  repre- 
sented. 

Ter  Borch's  (l6l  7-1681)  <  Le  Galant  Militaire' 
is  a  picture  of  some  fame.  Here  too  is  his  e  Concert* 
and  'Leconde  Musique.'  Jan  Steen's  (1626-1679) 
three  paintings :  the  '  Repas  de  Famille/  '  Mauvaise 
Compagnie,'  and  '  Fete  Flamande/  show  all  the 
qualities  for  which  he  is  famous.  Gabriel  Metsu's 
(1630-1667)  charming  'Lecon  de  Musique/  his 
'  Militaire  recevant  une  Jeune  Dame/  and  his 
'  Cuisiniere/  are  interesting,  Pieter  de  Hooch 
(1630-1677)  with  his  'Interieur  d'une  Maison ' 
and  '  Interieur  Hollandais/  both  paintings  which 
show  his  marvellous  effects  of  light  and  shade, 
and  Jan  van  der  Meer'  (1 632-1675)  with  his 
'  Dentelliere/  are  only  some  others  among  the 
108 


THE    PAINTINGS 

painters  of  the  Flemish  school  who   make   the 
collection  so  delightful. 

The  Louvre  contains  a  very  fine  collection 
of  drawings.  Colbert  bought  for  Louis  XIV. 
over  five  thousand  from  Jabach  alone.  Many 
were  kept  in  1815  which  had  been  taken  from 
foreign  countries,  and  later  gifts  and  legacies 
have  all  increased  their  number.  The  His  de  la 
Salle  drawings  are  shown  together,  near  the  rest 
of  the  drawings,  or  rather  such  of  them  as  there 
is  room  for,  on  the  first  floor  of  the  north  side 
of  the  Cour  du  Louvre.  This  collection  is  one  of 
great  value  and  importance,  given  to  the  Louvre 
by  M.  His  de  la  Salle.  In  all,  the  Louvre  contains 
about  forty  thousand  drawings,  which  were 
first  shown  to  the  public  in  1797,  in  the  Galerie 
d'Apollon.1 

1  'La   Peinture  au    Louvre,'  by  Gustave   Geftroy,  is  an 
admirable  book  of  moderate  size,  full  of  information. 


109 


IV 
THE  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  SCULPTURES 

THE  antique  sculptures  of  the  Louvre,  especi- 
ally those  of  Greece  and  Rome,  form  an  extremely 
fine  collection ;  among  which  are  two  of  the 
greatest  treasures  which  have  come  down  from 
antiquity  ;  the  '  Venus  de  Milo/  and  the  '  Nike  of 
Samothrace.'  All  the  ground  floor  of  the  Cour 
du  Louvre  is  devoted  to  antique  and  modern 
sculpture,  if  the  Egyptian  and  Asiatic  monuments 
are  included  ;  and  the  Galerie  Denon  and  Galerie 
Mollien  are  also  used  to  show  the  magnificent 
antique  sculpture,  which  overflows  from  its  place 
in  the  south-west  corner  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre, 
and  round  the  Cour  du  Sphinx. 

Fran9ois  Ier,  who  did  so  much  for  painting, 
began  also  the  collection  of  ancient  sculpture ; 
several  pieces  in  the  galleries  were  sent  to  him 
from  Italy.  Gradually  the  kings  of  France  began 
to  form  a  fine  collection. 

On  the  8th  of  November  1 800  some  rooms  were 
no 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  SCULPTURES 

opened  on  the  ground  floor  of  the  Louvre  to 
contain  two  hundred  and  thirty-eight  marbles 
and  bronzes,  Greek  and  Roman,  as  well  as  some 
Egyptian  objects  which  have  since  been  removed, 
and  placed  with  the  other  Egyptian  antiques. 
The  basis  of  these  rooms  lay  in  the  collections  of 
the  kings,  those  of  Richelieu  and  those  left  by 
Nointel,  French  ambassidor  at  Constantinople 
to  Beaudelot  de  Dairval,  who  bequeathed  them 
to  the  Academic  des  Inscriptions,  from  whence 
they  arrive  here. 

The  conquests  of  Napoleon  gave  the  '  Apollo 
Belvedere/  the  '  Venus  de  Medicis '  and  f  The 
Dying  Gaul '  with  a  host  of  other  statues  to  the 
Louvre.  But  that  caprice  of  Fate  which  caused 
one  agent  to  move  them  to  Paris  caused  their 
removal  thence  by  another  agent  in  1815,  though 
something  remains. 

Under  the  First  Empire  the  splendid  Borghese 
Collection  was  bought ;  and  during  the  Restoration, 
and  under  Napoleon  III.,  the  collections  of 
Fauvel,  Choiseul-Gouffier,  Durand,  Campana  and 
Pourtales  have  all  been  added  to  the  antiques. 
Then  too  the  excavations  of  A.  Blouet,  of  J.  Dubois, 
in  1829,  the  Mission  Heuzey  and  Daumet  in 
Macedonia,  the  Mission  of  Renan  to  Phenicia,  of 
in 


THE   LOUVRE 

Delamere  to  Algiers,  of  Villefosse  to  Algiers  and 
Tunis,  have  all  helped  to  swell  the  collections. 

The  oldest,  and  perhaps  the  most  beautiful, 
Greek  antiques  in  the  Louvre  are  in  the  small  Salle 
Grecque.  This  room,  at  first  merely  a  passage 
between  the  Louvre  of  Lescot  and  the  Petite 
Galerie,  afterwards  one  of  the  rooms  of  Cardinal 
Rohan,  has  a  ceiling  by  Prud'hon,  on  which 
Diana  and  Jupiter  are  depicted.  Now  it  contains 
fragments  of  Greek  sculpture  of  the  Golden  Age, 
the  culminating  period  of  Greek  plastic  art,  the 
age  of  Phidias  in  the  fifth  century  B.C.  Here  also 
are  the  archaic  sculptures  of  a  previous  age. 
Indeed  in  this  tiny  room  are  gathered  together 
many  of  the  most  lovely  things  in  the  Louvre. 
Here  is  that  beautiful  woman's  head  which  is 
attributed  to  Calamis,  a  work  of  the  fifth  century 
B.C.,  bought  from  the  collection  of  Mr  Humphry 
Ward.  Lately  a  beautiful  funeral  stele,  bought  in 
Athens  in  1911*  has  been  added. 

On  the  wall  are  two  wonderful  metopes  from 
the  Temple  of  Zeus  at  Olympia,  dating  from 
about  450  B.C.,  excavated  by  French  searchers  in 
1829.  <  Hercules  and  the  Cretan  Bull/ and 'Hercules 
bringing  the  Stymphalian  Birds  to  Minerva/  are 
the  subjects.  On  the  same  wall  is  the  beautiful 
112 


LE  PIED  Box 

Giiiseppe  Ri beret 


L'  INFANTE  MARIE  MARGUERITE 

Velasquez 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  SCULPTURES 

fragment  of  the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon  on 
the  Acropolis  at  Athens,  the  work  of  Phidias 
and  his  pupils,  447-432  B.C.  The  British  Museum 
has  the  major  portion  of  this  frieze,  which  repre- 
sents the  procession  wending  its  way  to  the 
Acropolis  after  the  Panathenaean  games ;  bearing 
a  robe  woven  by  the  noble  virgins  of  Athens  as  a 
gift  for  Minerva.  This  fragment  shows  Athenian 
maidens  advancing  slowly  and  with  reverence  in 
the  procession,  and  two  priests.  As  M.  Frohner  l 
says,  it  would  be  impossible  to  imagine  anything 
more  gracious  than  this  procession  of  young 
Athenian  women,  who  lend  to  the  ceremony  the 
charm  of  their  chastity  and  grace.  This  portion 
of  the  frieze  was  taken  from  the  Parthenon  by 
Fauvel,  for  the  comte  de  Choiseul-Gouffier,  French 
ambassador  to  Constantinople.  It  was  seized 
under  the  'Terreur'  and  placed  in  the  Louvre, 
and  not  reclaimed  by  M.  Choiseul  after  his  return 
from  exile  in  1802. 

The  room  contains  also  a  head  of  Apollo,  of  the 
fifth  century  B.C.,  attributed  to  Myron,  a  beautiful 
Minerva  from  Crete,  and  a  Hermes  of  the  fifth 
century  B.C.    Also   there   is   the   fine   head  of  a 
Lapith,  from  a  metope  of  the   Parthenon  (447- 
1  Author  of  Sculpture  Antique  du  Louvre. 
H  113 


THE    LOUVRE 

432  B.C.).  The  stele  preserved  in  the  Salle 
Grecque  are  many,  and  these  poor  mutilated 
fragments  have  a  divine  graciousness.  The  fine 
bas-relief  from  the  island  of  Thasos,  found  in 
1864,  formed  part  of  a  votive  monument  to  Apollo, 
the  Nymphs  and  the  Graces.  It  is  a  work  of  the 
late  sixth,  or  early  fifth,  century  B.C.,  and 
something  of  the  archaic  manner  is  still  seen  in 
the  workmanship,  though  there  are  signs  of  a 
transition  to  a  more  skilful  period.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  sculptures  in  the  Louvre. 
At  first  the  three  pieces  formed  one  continuous 
whole,  sawn  later  into  three  to  form  the  three 
front  sides  of  a  sarcophagus.  The  niche  was 
intended  probably  to  contain  a  bust  of  Apollo. 
On  the  left  of  the  niche  is  Apollo  singing  a 
hymn  of  praise  to  himself,  and  playing  on  the 
citharey  while  a  nymph  prepares  to  crown  him  as 
victor  in  the  musical  contest.  She  is  followed  by 
other  nymphs  bearing  presents  for  the  god.  On 
the  right  are  Hermes  and  a  female  figure  bearing 
gifts.  M.  Frohner  believes  that  the  figures 
accompanying  Hermes  are  the  Graces. 

Here  too  is  a  Hera  of  the  sixth  century  B.C., 
from  Samos ;   and  a  metope  of  the   Parthenon, 
whereon  a  centaur  is  carved  carrying  off  a  woman. 
114 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  SCULPTURES 

It  is  the  work  of  a  pupil  of  Phidias,  properly  to 
appreciate  which  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that, 
like  the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon,  it  was  archi- 
tectural sculpture,  to  be  placed  high  on  the 
Temple.  It  was  bought  by  the  comte  de 
Choiseul,  but  captured  by  a  British  cruiser  on  its 
voyage  to  France.  Lord  Elgin  bought  it  in 
London,  at  the  public  auction  of  the  captured 
antiques,  and  restored  it  to  the  comte  de 
Choiseul.  It  was  bought  for  the  Louvre  in  1818 
for  26,400  francs. 

Glimmering  white,  at  the  end  of  the  long 
series  of  rooms  beyond  the  Salle  Grecque,  stands 
the  *  Venus  de  Milo.'  All  these  rooms  were  part  of 
the  Louvre  of  Lescot,  and  were  the  apartments  of 
the  Queen-mother.  Among  their  occupants  have 
been  Catherine  de  Medicis,  Anne  d'Autriche,  and 
Henriette  of  England.  Their  elaborate  decora- 
tions have  disappeared ;  as  they  are  now  they 
were  arranged  during  the  First  Empire  by 
Percier  and  Fontaine. 

In  the  first  of  these  rooms,  the  Corridor  de  Pan, 
is  a  seated  Pan  from  the  Borghese  Collection,  a 
much-restored  statue.  In  the  Salle  du  Sarcophage 
de  Medee  is  that  hugely  entertaining  child, 
'  Telesphore/  the  son  of  ^Esculapius,  and  'The 

"5 


THE    LOUVRE 

Three  Graces/  a  group  of  lovely  nude  figures 
in  the  traditional  pose.  The  heads  are  modern 
additions.  Here  also  is  a  bas-relief  of  a  satyr,  a 
work  of  Greek  style. 

The  Salle  de  1' Hermaphrodite  de  Velletri 
contains  a  '  Wounded  Warrior/  believed  to  be  a 
replica  of  a  statue  from  the  groups  dedicated 
to  Attalus  II.  of  Pergamum,  which  stood  on  the 
Acropolis  at  Athens. 

The  Salle  du  Sarcophage  d' Adonis  contains 
the  handsome  'Vase  of  Bacchus/  and  the 
(  Hercules  and  the  Young  Bacchus/ 

The  Salle  de  Psyche  has  the  fine  Attic  relief 
of  '  Hermes,  Orpheus  and  Eurydice/  which  is  an 
excellent  example  of  Greek  art  at  almost  its 
finest  period.  Some  finely  carved  stone  chairs,  a 
splendid  head  of  ( Bacchus/  and  the  '  Lycien 
Apollo '  are  among  its  contents ;  while  between 
this  salle  and  the  next  stands  the  noble  draped 
f  Venus  of  Falerona.'  The  *  Lycien  Apollo/  a  fine 
statue  of  the  god  in  his  strength,  long  stood  in 
the  Gardens  of  Versailles,  listening  to  the  night- 
ingales which  sing  in  the  Bosquet  de  la  Colonnade. 

In  the  Salle  de  la  Venus  de  Milo  stands  alone 
the  chief  treasure  of  the  Louvre,  ( the  finest 
plastic  work '  of  these  immense  collections. 
116 


GREEK  AND   ROMAN  SCULPTURES 

Though  one  may  be  allowed,  merely  as  a  personal 
view,  to  doubt  if  this  Aphrodite  has  the  restrained 
nobility  and  beauty  of  the  '  Nike  of  Samothrace.' 
How  great,  how  beautiful  and  noble  is  this 
Venus !  What  a  vague  and  divine  smile  rests  on 
these  parted  lips  !  What  a  superhuman  glance 
is  shed  by  these  sightless  eyes,  cries  Theophile 
Gautier;  while  M.  Frohner  says  justly  that  no 
remains  of  antique  sculpture  in  his  opinion  offer 
a  more  perfect  study  of  nature  than  the  ( Venus  de 
Milo.'  The  noble  courage,  the  calm  and  inscrut- 
able visage  are  of  the  grave  beauty  of  a  goddess ; 
yet  this  dignity  is  produced  without  effort  or  loss 
of  simplicity.  The  gracious  contours  of  the  marble 
give  the  skin  a  soft  and  velvety  appearance,  to 
be  seen  in  no  other  work  of  the  sculptor.  He 
says  also  that  the  '  Venus  de  Milo '  represents  a 
school  which  stands  midway  between  the  art  of 
Phidias,  still  impressed  with  some  of  the  severity 
of  the  ancient  style,  and  the  art  of  Praxiteles, 
fine,  gracious,  spirituel,  absolutely  freed  from  the 
archaic  manner.  It  is  not  known  what  this  arm- 
less figure  is  doing.  Endless  are  the  discussions 
which  have  arisen  over  this  point.  One  idea  is 
that  the  figure  is  not  Aphrodite,  but  a  Victory ; 
standing  in  a  position  similar  to  that  of  the 
117 


THE   LOUVRE 

'  Victory  of  Brescia/  of  which  there  is  a  copy 
in  the  Galerie  Mollien.  Near  the  ( Venus  de  Milo ' 
were  found  a  fragment  of  an  arm,  and  a  hand 
holding  an  apple,  the  symbol  of  Melos ;  but  the 
inferiority  of  the  workmanship,  and  of  the  marble, 
show  that  these  fragments  could  only  have  been 
part  of  a  later  restoration.  The  sculptor  is  unknown, 
but  it  is  believed  that  the  statue  is  the  original 
work  of  a  pupil  of  Scopas  in  the  fourth  century  B.C. 

This  wonderful  figure  of  Parian  marble  was 
found  in  February  1820,  on  the  island  of  Melos, 
close  to  the  modern  village  of  Castro.  The  finder 
was  a  peasant  called  Yorgas,  who  found  it  while 
rooting  up  a  tree.  The  tree  suddenly  disappeared 
into  a  hole,  and,  on  investigating  the  hole,  Yorgas 
found  the  upper  part  of  the e  Venus  '  and  also  three 
Hermes.  Three  weeks  later  his  search  was 
rewarded  by  finding  the  other  half  of  the  statue. 
After  some  difficulty,  in  which  this  prize  nearly 
slipped  from  the  hands  of  France,  the  marquis  de 
Riviere,  French  ambassador  to  Constantinople, 
bought  the  statue  for  6000  francs.  It  reached 
France  safely  in  February  1824,  and  was  pre- 
sented by  the  marquis  to  Louis  XVIII. 

During  the  Commune  the  '  Venus  de  Milo '  was 
carried  away  for  safety  and  hidden ;  buried  in 
118 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  SCULPTURES 

the  cellars  of  the  house  of  the  Superintendent 
of  Police.  The  Communards  burned  down  the 
house,  but  the  statue  was  saved  from  harm  by  its 
endless  wrappings  of  legal  documents. 

Turn  from  the  Salle  de  Venus  de  Milo  into  the 
Salle  de  la  Melpomene.  Here  is  the  huge  statue, 
thirteen  feet  high,  of  '  Melpomene/  the  Tragic 
Muse ;  e  a  splendid  example  of  this  imposing  type 
of  antique  sculpture.'  This  statue,  cut  from  one 
of  the  largest  blocks  of  'pentelique'  marble  which 
exists,  is  believed  to  have  decorated  the  theatre 
of  Pompey  at  Rome.  After  being  found  it  was 
restored  and  placed  in  the  Vatican  by  Pius  VI.  ; 
and  it  reached  Paris  as  a  result  of  the  treaty  of 
Tolentino.  Fortunately  for  the  Louvre  it  was  not 
among  the  things  restored  to  Rome  in  1815.  The 
face  is  full  of  sweetness  and  charm,  and  the 
statue  is  one  of  great  nobility. 

Below  it  stretches  a  mosaic  pavement  executed 
by  Belloni  from  the  design  of  Gerard — the 
subject  being  ' The  Genius  of  Napoleon  Victorious 
bringing  Peace  and  Plenty/  Two  beautiful  figures 
of  the  Phidian  type,  restored  as  '  Euterpe,'  flank 
the  pavement ;  and  there  is  also  a  head,  believed 
to  be  a  copy  of  the  head  of  the  e  Venus  of  Praxi- 
teles.' The  Melpomene  looks  down  a  long  vista  of 
119 


THE    LOUVRE 

white  statues,  housed  in  three  rooms,  which  were 
part  of  the  work  of  Perrault,  overlooking  the  river. 
The  first  room,  the  Salle  de  la  Pallas  de  Velletri, 
contains  the  gracious  ( Venus  d'  Aries/  found  at 
Aries  in  1651,  in  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  theatre. 
The  statue  was  presented  to  Louis  XIV.  by  the 
municipal  council  of  Aries.  It  is  a  replica  of  a 
work  of  the  school  of  Praxiteles,  and  was  restored 
by  Fran9ois  Girardon,  who  is  responsible  for  the 
left  forearm,  the  right  arm,  and  various  lesser 
restorations.  The  gigantic  '  Pallas  de  Velletri,'  one 
of  the  finest  existing  statues  of  Minerva,  is  a 
Roman  copy  of  a  Greek  work,  probably  of  the 
fifth  century  B.C.  M.  Frohner  writes  that  the 
majestic  pose  of  the  Minerva  recalls  the  severity 
of  the  archaic  style,  but  the  sweetness  of  the  face, 
and  the  attitude  of  the  head,  lend  her  an  amiable 
expression,  'on  dirait  qiielle  sourit  aux  humains.' 
This  statue  was  found  in  1 797  close  to  Velletri, 
near  the  site  of  a  Roman  villa.  It  became  the 
subject  of  litigation  between  the  finder,  a  peasant, 
and  the  proprietor  of  the  land.  Into  the  midst 
of  this  squabble  broke  the  commissioners  who 
were  charged  with  the  choice  of  sculptures  to  be 
removed  to  Paris,  as  a  result  of  Napoleon's 
campaigns.  They  claimed  it,  and  it  was  packed 


LA   VlERGE   AU    DONATEUR 
Jean  Van  Kyck 


LE  BANQUIER  ET  SA  FEMME 

Quentin  Matsys 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  SCULPTURES 

for  the  journey  to  Paris.  Then  came  on  the  scene 
the  Neapolitan  army,  and  the  King  of  Naples 
removed  the  statue  to  his  capital.  Great  difficulties 
then  ensued;  but  by  the  treaty  of  Florence,  1801, 
the  French  at  last  seized  on  their  prey,  which  has 
never  since  left  the  Louvre. 

In  this  room  also  is  the  beautiful  '  Genius  of 
Repose/  of  which  the  upper  half  is  Greek  work, 
the  lower  Roman ;  and  a  celebrated  portrait 
bust  of  Alexander  the  Great,  probably  a  replica 
of  one  by  Lysippus.  The  '  Apollo  Sauroctonus/ 
the  Lizard  Slayer,  a  Greek  copy  of  a  bronze  by 
Praxiteles,  is  also  here.  The  young  god  is  of 
extreme  beauty  and  charm,  and  M.  Frohner  draws 
attention  to  the  grace  of  the  pose,  the  ideal 
beauty  of  the  figure  and  its  perfect  proportions, 
all  distinctive  marks  of  the  genius  of  Praxiteles. 

In  the  Salle  du  Heros  Combattant  is  a  touching 
e  Wounded  Amazon/  a  copy  of  a  statue  by  Poly- 
cletus,  much  restored ;  and  the  '  Gladiateur  Corn- 
battant/  a  Roman  statue  by  Agasias,  from  the 
Borghese  Collection.  The  '  Diana  of  Gabii/  one  of 
the  treasures  of  the  museum,  'an  admirable  figure 
full  of  youth,  of  chastity,  and  severe  grace/  is  also 
here.  It  is  a  Greek  statue  of  the  period  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  found  in  1792  in  the  ruins 
121 


THE   LOUVRE 

of  Gabies.  The  '  Venus  Genitrix/  or  '  Venus  of 
Frejus,'  a  Roman  copy  of  a  Greek  statue  of  the 
fifth  century  B.C.,  was  found  at  Frejus  in  1650. 
It  was  brought  to  the  Louvre  from  the  Gardens 
of  Versailles.  The  e  Faune  de  Vienne,'  found 
among  the  ruins  of  Vienne  (Dauphine)  in  1820, 
was  presented  to  Louis  XVIII.  by  the  town  in 
1822.  M.  Frohner  remarks  that  the  gaiety  of  this 
follower  of  Bacchus  is  expressed  with  such  happi- 
ness and  truth  that  it  would  be  difficult,  or  even 
impossible,  to  conceive  a  greater  degree  of  per- 
fection in  this  respect. 

The  Salle  du  Tibre  contains  several  very  inter- 
esting statues,  among  them  <  La  Zingarella/  a 
black  Diana  with  feet,  hands  and  head  in  bronze, 
and  marble  drapery.  The  drapery,  which  is 
antique,  causes  experts  to  think  the  statue  a 
Diana;  but  Alexander  Algardi  (1602-1654), 
who  restored  the  bronze  portion,  has  not 
depicted  this  Goddess.  His  work  has  given  the 
statue  another  name,  another  meaning — fLa 
Petite  Bohemienne.'  In  one  of  the  windows  is 
placed  a  curious  basin,  with  heads  of  great  charm. 
Silenus  and  Bacchus,  the  '  Faune  a  1' Enfant,'  is  a 
celebrated  statue,  possibly  of  the  fourth  century 
B.C.,  found  in  Rome  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
122 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  SCULPTURES 

<  Diane  a  la  Biche/  or  '  Diane  de  Versailles/  is 
another  well-known  statue  believed  to  be  in- 
spired by  a  work  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  though 
itself  probably  a  work  of  the  first  century  A.D. 
s  C'est  de  la  sculpture  romaine,  un  pen  seche,  mais  qui 
ne  manque  pas  de  grandes  qualites.' 1  It  was  one  of 
the  statues  brought  from  Rome  to  Fra^ois  Ier, 
and  was  restored  in  the  sixteenth  century  by 
Barthelemy  Prieur.  c  Le  Tibre '  is  a  fine  specimen 
of  that  Roman  art  which  used  mass  so  successfully. 
Napoleon  brought  it  to  Paris,  with  the  finer 
companion  piece  cThe  Nile;'  in  1815  'The  Nile* 
was  sent  back  to  Rome.  Both  these  vast  groups 
were  found  in  Rome  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  river  god,  whose  head  is  modern,  is  de- 
picted with  Romulus  and  Remus.  In  the  same 
room  are  two  beautiful  examples  of  a  crouching 
Venus,  one  found  at  Tyre,  the  other  at  Vienne. 
The  (  Diane  Chasseresse,'  a  good  statue  from  the 
Borghese  Collection,  is  also  here.  The  gigantic 
and  unpleasant  satyrs  which  serve  as  caryatides 
are  from  the  Villa  Albani  at  Rome ;  they  were 
brought  to  Paris  by  Napoleon,  and  by  an  ex- 
change were  kept  in  1815.  It  is  supposed  by 
M.  Frohner  that  they  were  originally  part  of  the 
1  Frohner. 

123 


THE    LOUVRE 

decoration  of  the  theatre  of  Dionysus  at  Athens, 
built  338-330  B.C. 

On  the  farther  side  of  the  Corridor  de  Pan 
is  the  great  Salle  des  Cariatides ;  so  named 
after  the  caryatides,  by  Jean  Goujon,  which 
support  the  tribune.  When  the  work  on  this 
hall  was  abandoned,  only  part  of  the  entablature 
they  support,  and  two  of  the  capitals  of  the 
columns,  were  carved,  and  the  rest  were  only 
finished  by  Percier  and  Fontaine.  Over  the 
tribune  is  Benvenuto  Cellini's  ( Nymph  of  Fon- 
tainebleau.'  The  chimneypiece  by  Belloni  has 
statues  of  Bacchus  and  Ceres,  and  other  frag- 
ments of  Renaissance  work,  wrought  into  the 
design. 

Some  admirable  Greek  and  Roman  works  are 
placed  in  this  room.  The  '  Borghese  Hermaphro- 
dite,' a  late  Greek  work  to  which  in  an  evil  moment 
Bernini  added  a  mattress,  is  here.  It  forms  part 
of  the  Borghese  Collection,  and  was  found  in 
Rome,  near  the  baths  of  Diocletian.  In  front  of 
it  stand  some  charming  nymphs.  The  beautiful 
'  Venus  a  la  Coquille '  is  really  one  of  Diana's 
nymphs.  Here  also  is  a  '  Minerva/  which  is  be- 
lieved to  be  a  copy  of  a  statue  by  Phidias^  and 
the  clever  '  Boy  with  the  Goose.'  The  admirable 
124 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  SCULPTURES 

'  Richelieu  Bacchus '  is  probably  a  copy  of  a  cele- 
brated Greek  statue.  The  beautiful  '  Borghese 
Vase/  bearing  bacchanalian  reliefs  is  in  the  Greek 
manner  of  the  best  period.  It  was  found  in  Rome, 
near  the  Gardens  of  Sallust,  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  great  '  Neptune/  often  called  '  The 
Jupiter  of  Versailles/  is  a  magnificent  colossal 
statue,  the  countenance  of  which  is  fine  and 
severe.  Found  in  the  Gardens  of  the  Villa  Medicis 
at  Rome,  it  was  given  in  1541  to  Perrenot  de 
Granvelle,  afterwards  presented  to  Louis  XIV.  ; 
during  whose  reign  it  was  restored  by  Jean 
Drouilly. 

The  rooms  which  form  the  Petite  Galerie  are 
also  full  of  sculpture.  The  room  at  the  farther 
end,  the  Salle  d'Auguste,  built  by  Catherine  de 
Medicis,  was  used  by  Henri  IV.  to  receive 
foreign  ambassadors.  It  was  also  one  of  the 
rooms  occupied  by  Anne  d'Autriche.  The  ceiling 
and  decorations  are  of  the  Second  Empire,  the 
rose-coloured  columns  being  from  the  tomb  of 
Charlemagne  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  Busts  of  the 
Julian  emperors,  and  of  the  Flavian  dynasty,  are 
housed  here.  Among  them  is  a  well-known 
portrait  bust  of  Augustus,  distinguished  for  its 
treatment  of  drapery.  Here,  too,  is  the  statue  of 

125 


THE    LOUVRE 

'  A  Roman  Orator/  formerly  called  ( Julius  Caesar/ 
signed  by  Cleomenes,  a  Greek  sculptor.  The 
bust  of  Antiochus  II.,  King  of  Syria  223-187 
B.C.,  is  also  of  interest;  but  indeed  all  these 
rooms  are  full  of  valuable  portrait  statues. 

The  Salle  des  Antonins  contains  decorations 
by  Anguier  or  Girardon.  Originally  it  was 
divided  into  two,  and  in  the  half  looking  over 
the  river  Anne  d'Autriche  used  to  work  with 
her  ministers.  The  other  half  was  her  bedroom. 
The  ceiling  is  by  Romanelli.  The  elaborate 
stucco  and  marble  with  which  Anne  d'Autriche 
had  these  rooms  in  the  Petite  Galerie  decorated 
form  a  fine  background  for  the  statues.  They 
were  decorated  for  her  use  in  summer,  when  the 
apartments  on  the  Cour  du  Louvre  were  too  hot. 
In  these  rooms  are  the  statues  and  busts  of  the 
Antonine  emperors,  and  here,  too,  is  the  cele- 
brated bust  of  '  Antinous '  with  the  attributes  of 
Osiris. 

The  Salle  de  Severe  contains  busts  of  the 
Roman  emperors  from  Commodus  to  Caracalla. 

The  Salle  de  La  Paix,  which  has  fine  decora- 
tions by  Anguier,  contains  statues  chiefly  of  a 
decadent  period.  There  is  a  bust  of  Julia 
Mammaea,  and  a  delicate  statue  of  her,  also 
126 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  SCULPTURES 

interesting  statues  of  Giordianus  Pius  and  his 
wife  Tranquillina.  The  garden  outside  this  hall 
was  called  the  Petit  Jardin  de  la  Reine ;  it  took 
its  present  name,  the  Jardin  de  Y  Enfant e,  after 
the  Infanta  of  Spain,  who  came  to  Paris  in  1722, 
used  the  apartments.  The  great  doors,  bearing 
the  date  1658,  are  fine. 

The  Salle  des  Saisons,  also  decorated  by 
Anguier,  contains  a  mean  statue  of  Julian  the 
Apostate,  interesting  because  of  his  residence 
in,  and  love  of,  Paris.1  There  is  also  a  fine  statue 
of  Tiridates. 

The  Salle  de  Mecene  contains  Roman  bas- 
reliefs,  and  the  altar  from  the  temple  of  Nep- 
tune at  Rome,  representing  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Suovetaurilia. 

At  the  head  of  the  Escalier  Daru,  a  staircase 
built  by  Visconti  and  Lefuel,  and  with  a  hideous 
ceiling  in  mosaic  after  Lenepveu,  is  placed  the 
'  Nike  of  Samothrace.'  This  Winged  Victory  is  one 
of  the  great  glories  of  the  Louvre.  The  beautiful 
figure  of  Victory  is  caught  in  stone  just  at  the 
instant  when  she  descended  to  the  prow  of 
the  conquering  trireme,  her  wind-blown  drapery 
turned  into  stone  before  the  folds  had  time  to  drop. 
1  The  Cluny  contains  another  statue  of  him,  found  in  Paris. 
127 


THE    LOUVRE 

The  statue  was  found  on  the  island  of 
Samothrace,  by  M.  Champoiseau,  the  French 
consul,  in  1863,  close  to  the  ruins  of  a  Doric 
temple  near  Paleopoli.  It  commemorates  the 
naval  victory  of  Demetrius  Poliorcetes  over 
Ptolemy,  305  B.C.  ;  and  is  accepted  as  one  of  the 
finest  works  of  early  Hellenic  art  left. 

Under  this  staircase  is  the  Salle  des  Prisonniers 
Barbares,  which  contains  sculpture  in  porphyry 
and  coloured  marble.  The  sad  figure  of  the 
'  Prince  Barbare  Prisonnier/  from  the  Villa  Albani, 
is  here,  a  handsome  '  Diana '  in  bronze  and 
alabaster  from  the  Borghese  Collection,  and  the 
well-known  '  African  Fisherman/ 

The  Rotonde  de  Mars,  one  of  Anne  of 
Austria's  rooms,  was  built  under  Henri  IV.  and 
Louis  XIII.  Cardinal  Rohan  also  occupied  this 
room,  and  in  1794  the  Bourse  was  held  here. 
The  decorative  sculptures  are  by  Michel  Anguier, 
1660,  the  bas-reliefs  by  Lorta  and  Lange, 
while  Mauzaisse  painted  the  ceiling.  In  the 
centre  stands  the  ( Borghese  Mars,'  a  celebrated 
statue.  In  the  window  is  the  base  of  a  candelabra 
called  the  '  Autel  des  Douze  Dieux,'  a  fine  Roman 
imitation  of  a  piece  of  archaic  Greek  carving. 
On  the  upper  circle  are  the  Twelve  Gods, 
128 


VENUS  DE  MILO 


NIKE  DE  SAMOTHRACE 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  SCULPTURES 

presiding  over  the  Twelve  Months ;  011  the  lower 
circle  the  Three  Seasons,  the  Three  Graces  and 
the  Three  Eumenides,  or  Fates.  In  the  same 
room  is  the  lovely  fVase  of  Sosibios,'  from  the 
Collection  of  Louis  XIV.  It  represents  a  Bacchic 
sacrifice.  Fire  is  burning  on  the  altar,  of  which 
the  base  bears  the  name  of  the  sculptor  Sosibios 
of  Athens.  Artemis,  several  bacchantes,  a  satyr, 
Hermes  and  a  warrior  dancing  the  Pyrric  dance, 
are  carved  on  this  fine  and  gracious  work.  This 
vase,  which  is  in  the  Greek  manner,  is  at  latest 
one  of  the  last  century  B.C. 

The  Salle  Daru,  opened  in  1895,  contains 
antiques  from  North  Africa.  There  is  a  head 
of  Medusa,  and  so  charming  a  bas-relief  from 
Carthage  as  alone  makes  it  worth  exploring.  The 
e  three  elements/  Earth,  Fire  and  Water,  are 
represented  on  the  bas-relief,  among  the  most 
interesting  in  the  Louvre.  It  is  a  subject  not 
often  treated  by  the  ancients,  found  in  the  ruins 
of  Carthage. 

The  Galerie  Mollien  is  again  open,  and 
pleasantly  empty.  The  stream  turns  as  of  old 
to  the  left,  and  the  gallery  is  silent  save  for 
some  straying  couple.  It  is  a  hall  of  great  dignity, 
containing  a  few  bronze  busts,  copies  from  the 
I  129 


THE    LOUVRE 

antique,  a  bronze  copy  of  the  '  Victory  of  Brescia,' 
and  several  sarcophagi  with  creamy  marble 
surfaces.  Here  too  are  three  fine  mosaic  pave- 
ments, Byzantine,  brought  from  the  Church  of 
St  Christophe  at  Kabr-Hiram. 

The  Galerie  Denon,  with  its  Renaissance 
bronzes,  copies  of  antiques,  cast  by  so  many 
distinguished  men,  is  better  known.  It  contains 
the  great  sarcophagus  of  '  Dionysos  and 
Ariadne/  a  work  of  the  third  century,  and  the 
beautiful  tomb  ornamented  with  the  Nine  Muses, 
brought  from  Rome.  But  several  of  the  sarcophagi 
in  this  hall  are  very  beautiful,  and  worthy  of 
infinite  study.  There  is  one  with  a  fine  combat 
of  Amazons,  with  two  funeral  statues  reposing 
on  the  lid;  and  opposite  it  another  which  sets 
forth  the  story  of  Achilles. 

The  Salle  des  Moulages,  opened  in  1889,  is 
a  collection  of  casts,  interesting  chiefly  to 
students.  Casts  from  Delphi  adorn  the  Escalier 
Daru,  with  metopes  from  the  treasury  of  the 
Athenians,  and  a  cast  of  the  facade  of  the 
Tr^sor  des  Cnidiens. 

More  interesting  are  those  ateliers  de  Moulage, 
approached  by  a  door  on  the  quay,  leading  to  the 
Cour  Visconti.  Here,  where  the  chiens  de  garde 
130 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  SCULPTURES 

lie  at  rest,  the  visitor  can  cross  the  court,  itself 
very  fine,  pass  through  the  small  Cour  du  Sphinx, 
and  enter  the  atelier :  where  happy  workmen  are 
privileged  to  form  white  glimmering  casts,  in 
huge  dim  mysterious  halls  peopled  by  statues 
of  every  period  standing  side  by  side.  Here  it 
is  permitted  to  buy  casts,  at  anything  from  a 
franc  upwards. 


MEDIEVAL,   RENAISSANCE  AND 
MODERN   SCULPTURE 

THOUGH  these  collections  languish  singularly 
unnoticed  by  the  sightseer,  they  are  all  of  great 
interest  and  beauty.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to 
point  out  the  charm  of  Renaissance  work,  that 
fine  flower  of  the  intellect,  and  the  modern 
French  sculpture  is  most  remarkable  and  at- 
tractive. Such  a  book  as  Lady  Dilke's  e  French 
Sculptors  and  Architects  of  the  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury '  increases  one's  appreciation  of  this  period. 

In  1824  was  inaugurated,  in  five  rooms  in  the 
north  half  of  the  west  side  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre, 
a  museum  of  sculpture  of  the  Renaissance,  to 
which  was  added  some  later  work.  The  king 
called  it  the  Musee  d'Angouleme,  after  his  eldest 
son.  At  first  all  the  contents  were  French,  with 
the  exception  of  Michael  Angelo's  ( Fettered 
Slaves,'  and  a  few  other  pieces.  Most  of  the 
French  examples  came  from  the  Musee  des 

132 


MEDIEVAL  &  MODERN  SCULPTURE 

Monuments  Francais,  which  was  closed  in  1816. 
Lenoir  by  his  prudence  and  foresight  secured 
to  France,  in  founding  this  museum,  much 
which  would  otherwise  have  gone  under  in  the 
Revolution. 

In  1849  the  growing  collections  of  Mediaeval 
and  Renaissance  sculpture  were  moved  to  their 
present  home  on  the  south  side  of  the  Cour  du 
Louvre,  in  the  part  built  by  Perrault,  on  the 
site  of  the  hotel  du  Petit  Bourbon.  The  original 
rooms  are  occupied  by  the  modern  French 
sculpture  of  the  seventeenth,  eighteenth  and 
nineteenth  centuries.  The  Collections  Campana 
and  Timbal,  the  legacy  Davellier,  and  various 
judicious  purchases  have  enriched  the  museum 
with  fine  Italian  pieces. 

The  Musee  des  Sculptures  du  Moyen  Age 
et  de  la  Renaissance  is  most  useful  for  a  study 
of  early  French  sculpture,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
Renaissance.  Its  place  in  architecture  can  be 
appreciated  after  seeing  the  Musee  de  Sculpture 
Comparee  in  the  Trocadero.  In  the  Salle  d' Andre 
Beauneveu  are  examples  of  early  French  art 
of  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries — art  '  still  for  the  most  part  purely 
Gothic  and  uninfluenced  in  any  way  by  Italian 

133 


THE    LOUVRE 

models.'  The  fine  tomb  of  Philippe  Pot,  Grand 
Seneschal  of  Burgundy,  attributed  to  Ant. 
Lemoiturier,  the  tomb  of  Pierre  d'Evreux,  and 
the  tomb  of  Charles  IV.  and  Jean  d'Evreux, 
the  work  of  Jean  de  Liege,  in  1372,  are  among 
the  more  interesting  pieces  in  this  room. 

In  the  Salle  du  Moyen  Age  is  admirable  work 
of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  The 
oldest  French  example  of  stone  carving  in  the 
Louvre  is  here,  a  capital  carved  in  the  eleventh 
century,  representing  (  Daniel  in  the  Lions'  Den,' 
carved  on  a  Merovingian  column.  The  following 
century  saw  a  vast  change  in  the  direction  of 
freedom  in  the  young  art.  The  thirteenth  century, 
with  its  idealistic  art,  was  followed  by  the  realism 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  the  end  of  which  saw 
the  rise  of  a  school  of  sculpture  in  Burgundy, 
a  school  of  robust  realism,  which  by  degrees 
influenced  all  the  sculptors  of  France. 

In  the  Salle  de  Michel  Colombe  are  examples 
of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries ;  and 
the  work  of  the  sixteenth  century  shows  how 
the  influence  of  the  Italian  Renaissance  began  to 
touch  French  sculptors.  Something  was  lost  from 
the  national  characteristics,  though  many  of  the 
sculptors  preserved  their  individuality  of  touch, 

134 


MEDIAEVAL  &   MODERN   SCULPTURE 

notably  that  fine  sculptor  Michel  Colombe 
(1431-1514).  His  bas-relief  of  <  St  George  and  the 
Dragon/  from  the  Chateau  Gaillon,  is  here.  Jean 
Goujon  (15 15-1 565  ?),  who  was  one  of  the  greatest 
French  sculptors  of  the  Renaissance,  has  in  this 
room  his  celebrated  '  Diana/  a  work  of  that  school 
of  Fontainebleau  which  was  begun  under  Fra^ois 
Ier.  Germain  Pilon  (1515-1590?),  a  sculptor  of 
great  originality,  though  influenced  by  Italy,  has 
fine  work  here,  among  it  ( The  Dead  Christ/  by 
him,  or  a  member  of  his  school.  Barthelemy  Prieur 
(d.  1 6l  1)  is  another  artist  of  great  distinction  whose 
work  merits  study.  The  <  Catherine  de  Medicis* 
of  Giovanni  della  Robbia,  and  the  charming 
French  sixteenth-century  bust  of ( Jean  d'  Alesso/ 
are  other  interesting  examples.  The  Salle  de  Jean 
Goujon  has  in  it  very  fine  French  Renaissance 
work,  including  admirable  examples  of  Jean 
Goujon  and  Germain  Pilon.  Here,  too,  is  *  Anne 
de  Montmorency/  by  Barthelemy  Prieur;  Jean 
Goujon's  bas-relief  from  the  Fontaine  des 
Innocents,1  and  Pierre  Bontemps'  '  Charles  de 
Margny.' 

The  Salle  de  Donatello  is  filled  with  Italian 
sculpture    dating    from    the    thirteenth    to    the 
1  In  the  Square  des  Innocents. 
135 


THE    LOUVRE 

fifteenth  century.  Mino  da  Fiesoli's  (1431-1484) 
'Pope  Paul  III.,'  and  Donatello's  (1386-1466) 
'  St  John  the  Baptist '  are  among  the  treasures  of 
this  room. 

The  Salle  de  Michel  Ange  contains  works  of 
the  Italian  Renaissance,  doubly  valuable  here  for 
comparison  with  the  French  school.  Among  the 
chief  pieces  are  the  celebrated  (  Fettered  Slaves  ' 
of  Michael  Angelo  (1475-1564),  which  were  de- 
signed for  the  tomb  of  Pope  Julius  II.,  and  a 
' Virgin  and  Child'  attributed  to  Donatello.  The 
e  Nymph  of  Fontainebleau,'  by  Benvenuto  Cellini 
(1500-1572),  is  especially  important  for  its  vast 
influence  on  French  Renaissance  sculpture.  The 
work  of  Jean  de  Bologne  (1524-1608)  must  not 
be  overlooked,  his  bronze  '  Mercury '  is  of  great 
ability. 

The  Salle  des  della  Robbia,  with  its  fine 
collection  of  enamelled  terra-cot tas  of  that  school, 
is  a  very  delightful  hall,  and  both  this  and  the 
following  rooms  are  full  of  interest,  and  form  a 
most  valuable  study. 

In  the  north-west  quarter,  on  the  ground  floor 
of  the  Cour  du  Louvre,  are  placed  the  collections 
of  the  Musee  des  Sculptures  Modernes.  These 

136 


1 


LOUISE  BRONGNIART? 

Houdon 


MEDIAEVAL  &   MODERN    SCULPTURE 

interesting  rooms  are  filled  with  sculpture,  which 
take  up  that  art  at  the  point  where  the 
Renaissance  museum  lays  it  down.  It  is  chiefly 
filled  with  French  work  of  the  seventeenth,  eigh- 
teenth and  nineteenth  centuries.  The  work  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  especially 
is  full  of  a  power  and  freshness  which  make  its 
study  peculiarly  interesting.  Never  have  sculptors 
so  excelled  in  the  art  of  portraiture.  Francois 
Anguier  (1 604-1 669)  began  to  show  marks  of  that 
decorative  and  grandiose  style  which  was  to  come 
with  Louis  XIV.,  when  the  influence  of  Le  Brun 
impressed  a  classical  spirit  on  sculpture,  as  on 
painting.  But  this  art,  in  spite  of  its  conventions 
and  restrictions,  has  a  character  and  distinction 
wholly  French,  wholly  interesting.  Not  only  in 
portrait  statues,  but  in  decorative  work,  the 
sculptors  of  this  period  excelled,  and  to  miss  these 
rooms  is  to  miss  the  much  of  interest  and  charm 
with  which  the  great,  bare,  cold,  empty  rooms, 
with  their  marble  floors  and  creamy  stone  walls, 
are  filled.  The  Salle  du  Coyzevox  contains  Warin's 
(1604-1672)  splendid  <  Louis  XIII.,'  Anguier's 
tomb  of  the  due  de  Longueville,  and  some  very 
fine  busts  by  Coyzevox,  Coypel,  Du  Vair,  Sarazin, 
and  other  sculptors  of  this  period.  The  '  Marie 

137 


THE    LOUVRE 

Serre'  and  the  'Venus'  of  Coyzevox  (1640-1720) 
show  his  talent,  and  also  his  '  Le  Grand  Conde.' 
Francheville  (1548-1618  ?)  is  worthily  represented 
by  his  '  Esclaves  enchaines '  from  the  old  statue  of 
Henri  IV.  on  the  Pont  Neuf. 

The  Salle  du  Puget,  which  contains  work  of  the 
same  period,  has  the  tomb  of  Mazarin  by  Coyzevox, 
Legros'  (1629-1714)  <  L'Hiver,'  Lemoyne's  (1704- 
1778)  e  Mansard,'  and  other  interesting  work. 
Puget's  (1622-1694)  masterpiece  '  Milon  de 
Crotone,'  and  his  bas-relief  of  '  Alexander  and 
Diogenes,'  are  among  the  productions  of  this 
admirable  sculptor.  The  Salle  des  Coustou 
contains  many  examples  of  the  three  Coustous, 
among  them  the  able  bust  of  '  Nicolas  Coustou ' 
by  Guillaume  Coustou  (1677-1746).  Falconet's 
(1716-1791)  'Le  Musique,'  ' Annabel'  by  the 
overwhelming  Sebastien  Slodtz,  and  Nicolas 
Coustou's  (1658-1733)  <  Louis  XIII.'  are  also  here  ; 
while  the  brilliant  work  of  Pigalle  (1714-1785) 
is  shown  in  his  '  Mercury  '  and  the  '  Diderot.' 

The  eighteenth-century  sculptures  of  the  Salle 
deHoudon(1741-1828)include  several  of  this  great 
sculptor's  finest  works,  including  his  (  Voltaire.' 
Bouchardon's  (1698-1762)  CL' Armour  se  faisant 
un  Arc  de  la  Massue  d'Hercule,'  'an  excellent 

138 


MEDIEVAL  &   MODERN   SCULPTURE 

expression  of  the  poverty  of  the  adolescent 
type/  and  work  by  Pajou  (1730-1809)  are  also 
placed  in  this  room :  which  is  also  happy  enough 
to  contain  those  busts  by  Houdon,  '  Alexandre 
and  Laure  Brongniart,'  which  would  alone  make 
the  room  noteworthy.  The  esteem  in  which 
Houdon's  work  is  now  held  is  shown,  in  a 
material  manner  admittedly,  by  the  recent  sale 
of  his  bust  of  'Sabine  Houdon '  for  £19,800.  It 
was  sold  to  Messrs  Duveen  for  this  price,  in  the 
sale  of  the  Doucet  Collection. 

The  later  sculptures  are  less  interesting,  David 
d' Angers,  Nanteuil,  Pradier,  Barye,  Rude,  with  his 
odd  ( Napoleon  s'eveillant  a  I'lmmortalite,'  these 
are  all  men  of  distinction,  but  they  lack  the  in- 
terest there  is  in  the  earlier  work.  Canova's  (1757- 
1822)  '  L}  Amour  et  Psyche'  is  here;  and  in  the 
Salle  Carpeaux  is  the  fine  original  plaster  for 
Carpeaux's  (1827-1875)  '  La  Dance,'  the  group 
designed  for  the  outside  of  the  Opera  House ; 
A  work  which  caused  considerable  heart-burning 
and  comment,  among  those  who  want  the  empty 
husk,  not  the  spirit  of  the  dance.  The  yet  more 
modern  French  sculpture  must  be  sought  for 
in  the  Luxembourg. 


139 


VI 

THE   EGYPTIAN   AND   ASIATIC 
ANTIQUITIES 

THESE  collections,  though  they  have  less  general 
attraction  than  the  other  treasures  of  the  Louvre, 
are  yet  of  importance  to  the  student ;  the 
Egyptian  antiques  especially  are  among  the  most 
important  of  their  kind  in  Europe.  They  contain, 
too,  objects  which  are  of  extreme  attraction ; 
the  Frieze  of  the  Archers  is  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  things  in  the  Louvre,  and  some  of 
the  smaller  Egyptian  sculptures  are  most  in- 
teresting. 

In  1827  the  museum  called  the  Musee  Charles 
X.  was  opened,  the  present  Musee  des  Antiquites 
Egyptiennes,  to  contain  Egyptian  objects  :  a  royal 
decree  of  1826  having  made  this  a  separate  de- 
partment, with  M.  Champollion,  then  the  first 
Egyptologist  in  Europe,  at  its  head. 

The  Cabinet  Durand  bought  by  Charles  X.  in 
1825,  and  the  pieces  brought  from  Egypt  by 
140 


EGYPTIAN  &  ASIATIC   ANTIQUITIES 

Champollion  in  1828,  were  valuable  additions; 
to  which  were  afterwards  added  the  interesting 
collections  of  M.  Salt.  In  1851  the  finds  of 
Marietti,  who  discovered  the  Necropolis  of 
Memphis,  enriched  the  museum  with  objects 
ranging  in  date  from  the  18th  Dynasty  to  the 
end  of  the  Greek  period.  Nor  have  other  in- 
vestigators failed  to  dower  the  Louvre  with  the 
strange  results  of  their  researches  in  a  bygone 
civilisation. 

The  larger  monuments  are  in  the  Salle 
Henri  Quatre,  in  part  of  the  Louvre  of  Le  Van, 
on  the  site  of  the  old  hotel  de  Bourbon,  the  south 
half  of  the  east  side  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre. 

In  this  gallery  is  a  sarcophagus  in  basalt  made 
for  the  priest  T'aho  in  the  26th  Dynasty. 
On  the  tomb  are  carved  scenes  from  the  book  of 
6  Amtouat,'  and  it  is  a  masterpiece  of  the  Saite 
period.  Some  of  the  oldest  Egyptian  antiques  are 
in  the  Salle  Mastaba,  which  has  its  entrance  just 
west  of  the  Pavilion  de  Tremoille ;  but  how  few 
people  ever  find  this  interesting  room,  though 
the  contents  are  so  noteworthy.  That  good  por- 
trait statue  of  Pahournofir  of  the  5th  Dynasty 
is  worth  greeting,  and  then  too  there  is  the 
finely  carved  stele  of  King  Serpent  of  Abydos, 
141 


THE    LOUVRE 

a  work  of  3000  B.C.,  now  as  clearly  cut  as  if  the 
carver  had  barely  laid  down  his  tool.  But  it  is 
the  reconstructed  sacrificial  chamber  from  the 
Mastaba,  or  tomb  of  Akhut  Hotep,  who  lived 
under  the  5th  Dynasty,  which  is  the  chief 
treasure  of  this  room.  This  wonderful  tomb, 
bought  from  Sakkara  in  1903,  is  carved  with 
scenes  from  the  life  of  Akhut  Hotep,  scenes  in 
low  relief,  while  within  it  are  wall  paintings. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre,  on 
the  inner  side  of  the  first  floor,  are  the  rooms 
which  once  formed  the  Musee  Charles  X. ;  they 
contain  the  smaller  Egyptian  objects.  Crude  as 
the  colours  are,  and  ugly  as  the  florid  ceiling 
paintings,  these  rooms — those  at  the  west  end 
are  given  up  to  Greek  and  Italian  pottery — form 
a  splendid  suite  with  very  fine  fireplaces. 

At  the  east  end  is  the  Salle  Historique,  and  this 
room,  with  the  next  three,  form  part  of  Le  Vau's 
constructions.  The  tiny  Egyptian  antiques  it 
contains  have  an  uncanny  beauty ;  great  vases  of 
blue  enamelled  terra-cotta,  golden  mummy  masks, 
enamels  of  the  llth  Dynasty  are  all  here. 

The  Salle  Civile,  like  the  Salle  Historique 
and  the  next  room,  were  the  ateliers  des  menus 
plauirs  du  Roi,  rooms  in  which  was  perfected 
142 


EGYPTIAN    &    ASIATIC  ANTIQUITIES 

the  machinery  for  court  fetes,  and  even  for 
court  funerals !  Egyptian  bronzes  crowd  the 
wall  cases,  jewellery  and  brilliant  blue-enamelled 
terra-cottas  occupy  the  centre ;  and  in  this  room 
is  the  marvellous  statue  of  Queen  Karomama, 
wearing  a  dress  inlaid  with  gold. 

The  Salle  Funeraire  is  perhaps  the  most 
interesting  of  these  rooms.  Here  one  may  see 
statues  of  Egyptians  who  might  live  to-day,  so 
modern  are  their  faces.  In  Piccadilly  we  should 
not  look  at  them,  in  even  the  idlest  moment, 
with  even  the  vaguest  curiosity.  That  slim  and 
charming  '  Porteuse  d'Offrandes '  is  here,  and  the 
wonderful  bust  of  King  Akhounaton  of  the  18th 
Dynasty,  half  peeled  away,  and  yet  so  clever. 
Then  there  is  the  very  well-known  e  Scribe 
Accroupi,'  one  of  the  great  portrait  statues  of  all 
time,  a  work  of  the  5th  or  6th  Dynasty,  the 
eighteenth  century  B.C.  ;  and  also  a  bust  of  that 
thin  and  dangerous-faced  man  King  Psammetichus 
III.,  who  flourished  523  B.C.  On  the  walls  hang 
sheets  from  a  royal  copy  of  'The  Book  of  the 
Dead,'  more  than  three  thousand  years  old. 

The  Salle  des  Dieux  contains  carvings  in  bone 
and  ivory,  precious  stones,  scarabs  and  tiny  objects 
illustrating  the  worship  of  the  gods. 

143 


THE    LOUVRE 

In  the  great  Salle  des  Colomies  are  huge  vases 
of  agate,  a  chair  from  Thebes,  a  bronze  harp,  on 
which  some  bygone  Egyptian  played,  and  other 
pieces  of  furniture. 

In  1847,  on  the  1st  of  May,  an  Assyrian  museum, 
now  the  Musee  des  Antiquites  Asiatiques,  was 
opened:  to  contain  the  objects  found  by  M.  Paul 
Botta,  the  French  consul  at  Massoul,  when  ex- 
cavating a  mound  at  Khorsbad  near  Nineveh. 
Sir  A.  H.  Layard  and  M.  Botta  worked  together 
at  these  excavations — half  the  results  of  which 
are  in  the  British  Museum — and  found  the  palace 
of  Sargon,  son  of  the  Sennacherib  of  the  Bible, 
a  palace  of  the  eighth  century  B.C.  The  " finds" 
from  this  palace,  which  reached  Paris  in  February 
1847,  are  in  the  Grande  Galerie  Chaldee 
Assyrienne,  on  the  ground  floor  of  the  Cour  du 
Louvre,  in  the  north  half  of  the  east  side ;  where 
they  overwhelm  by  their  size  and  repose  of  spirit. 
The  great  winged  bulls  with  human  faces,  and 
the  bas-reliefs  from  the  same  palace,  are  very 
fine*  King  Sargon  of  Assour,  with  his  servants, 
his  tributary  princes  and  his  ministers,  are  all 
shown  here,  and  form  a  valuable  commentary 
on  that  period.  Here  are  also  objects  from  the 
144 


fe   ^ 


i 


SCRIBE  ACCROUPI 


EGYPTIAN    &    ASIATIC  ANTIQUITIES 

palace  of  Assour-Nazir-Habal  at  Nimroud,  in  the 
ninth  century  B.C.,  and  from  the  palace  of  Nineveh, 
seventh  century  B.C. 

About  thirty  years  later,  M.  de  Sarzec,  vice- 
consul  at  Bassorah,  dug  up  at  Tello  some  basalt 
statues,  now  in  these  galleries,  which  are  examples 
of  Chaldean  art  of  the  twentieth  century  B.C.  ;  and 
some  objects  of  an  even  more  incredible  antiquity. 

In  the  Salle  de  Susiane  are  monuments  found 
in  Susa,  chiefly  from  the  expedition  of  M.  J. 
Morgan  in  1901  Here  is  the  stele  of  Hammurabi, 
on  which  is  engraved  a  code  of  Babylonian  laws 
dating  from  about  2000  B.C.,  the  oldest  code  of 
laws  known  to  exist.  There  is  also  an  interesting 
statue  of  Queen  Napur-Elsai,  1500  B.C.  and  some 
enamelled  terra-cottas  of  the  sixth  century  B.C. 

The  Mission  Dieulafoy  brought  to  light  at 
Susa  the  grand  Frieze  of  Lions,  from  the  throne 
room  of  Artaxerxes  Mnemon  at  Susa,  404  B.C. 
A  frieze  now  built  up  in  the  Grand  Salle  de  Suse, 
which  is  on  the  first  floor,  above  the  Grande 
Galerie  Chaldee  Assyrienne.  There  marvellous 
lions,  pacing  one  behind  the  other,  are  of  im- 
mense dignity,  and  show  to  what  perfection  the 
Persians  brought  the  art  of  enamelling  on  brick. 

But  the  most  celebrated  object  in  the  collection 

K  145 


THE    LOUVRE 

is  the  incomparable  Frieze  of  the  Archers,  also 
in  the  Grand  Salle  de  Suse,  which  contains 
objects  from  the  Mission  to  Susa  carried  out  in 
1881-1886  by  M.  and  Madame  Dieulafoy.  This 
wonderful  frieze  is  in  bricks,  enamelled  in  cream 
and  green,  which  have  weathered  to  a  perfection 
of  colour.  On  it  pass  by  for  ever,  in  endless 
procession,  the  grave  brown  men,  prepared  for 
all  that  is  to  be.  This  Frieze  of  the  Immortals  is 
from  the  throne  room  of  Darius  I. ;  the  figures 
are  those  of  the  king's  bodyguard,  known  as  the 
Immortals.  In  this  same  room  are  cases  of 
jewellery  and  tiny  gods  from  the  expedition 
of  M.  Morgan  to  Persia. 

In  the  Petite  Salle  de  Suse  is  a  model  of  the 
throne  room  of  Artaxerxes  Mnemon,  and  another 
fine  animal  frieze  of  the  period  of  Darius  I.  In 
this  room  also  is  the  bust  of  a  woman,  an  almost 
unique  example  of  the  Graeco- Phoenician  art  of 
Spain,  in  the  fifth  century  B.C. 

Then  there  are  the  results  of  the  expedition 
of  M.  Ernest  Renan  to  Phoenicia  in  1860-1861, 
and  the  expedition  of  Ch.  Texier  in  1843,  when 
objects  from  the  temple  of  Artemis  Leucophryne, 
at  Magnesia,  near  Ephesus,  were  secured.  There 
are  also  objects  from  Miletus  and  Heraclea  Latmus, 
146 


EGYPTIAN    &   ASIATIC  ANTIQUITIES 

in  Asia  Minor,  which  show  the  change  from  the 
Assyrian  to  the  Hellenic  ideal. 

Under  the  Escalier  du  Nord,  built  by  Percier 
and  Fontaine,  are  the  Salle  Punique  and  the 
Salle  Judai'que.  The  former  has  an  interest  for 
the  learned  or  imaginative  ;  it  contains  inscrip- 
tions and  fra  gments  from  Carthage. 

In  the  Salle  Judaique  is  the  famous  stele  of 
King  Mesa  of  Moab,  B.C.  896,  the  (  Moabite  Stone'  ; 
probably  the  earliest  existing  example  of  alpha- 
betical writing,  which  sets  forth  the  wars  of  King 
Mesa  against  the  Isr  aelites.  It  was  found  by  M. 
Clermont  Ganneau. 

There  are  also  wonderful  Greece- Persian  objects 
in  silver,  bronze  and  glass,  among  them  a  bronze 
goat  inlaid  with  gold,  and  with  gold  wings,  which 
are  in  the  Salle  de  Chaldee  et  Stisiane. 

The  Salle  Morgan,  entered  from  the  Salle 
Mastaba,  contains  some  of  the  objects  from  the 
expedition  of  M.  J.  Morgan  to  Persia  :  pottery, 
bronzes,  inscriptions.  On  the  wall  hangs  the 
great  bas-relief  of  the  hunting  of  Chosroes  II., 
who  went  hunting  in  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  and 
put  such  life  into  his  sport  that  the  sculptor  has 
been  able  to  place  us  by  the  king,  sharing  his 
pleasure.  Row  on  row  of  hunters  attack  the  fierce 

147 


THE    LOUVRE 

boar,  while  Chosroes  II.  draws  his  great  bow, 
from  a  safe  place  among  the  waters.  Surely  this 
is  a  work  of  infinite  realism  and  force.  If  you 
would  see  the  excavations  of  this  expedition 
carried  out,  they  are  shown  in  the  wall  painting 
of  M.  J.  Georges  Bordaux. 


148 


VII 

THE   ANTIQUE    PAINTINGS,   POTTERY, 
BRONZES  AND  ORNAMENTS 

ON  the  south  side  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre,  on  the 
first  floor,  at  the  east  end,  overlooking  the  river, 
is  the  room  which  contains  all  the  antique 
frescoes  of  the  Louvre.  Here  are  wall  paintings 
from  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum,  among  them  the 
famous  series  of  the  Muses. 

Here  also  are  the  wall  paintings  from  Rome, 
which  came  to  the  Louvre  as  part  of  the  Collec- 
tion Campana.  Among  these  is  a  morsel  of  great 
charm  from  the  Baths  of  Caracalla,  whereon  genii 
sport  among  the  vines.  There  is  also  a  good  series 
of  Graeco- Egyptian  portraits,  and  painted  stele 
from  the  burial  ground  of  Alexandria.  The  charm- 
ing stucco  ceiling  taken  from  a  palace  on  the 
Palatine  Hill  is  also  interesting. 

On  this  same  side  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre  are  the 
rooms  devoted  to  the  large  collection  of  antique 
pottery  which  is  one  of  the  glories  of  the  Louvre. 
149 


THE    LOUVRE 

This  Musee  de  la  Ceramique  Antique,  once 
called  the  Musee  Campana,  from  that  collection, 
which  was  bought  from  the  Papal  Government 
in  1861,  was  decorated  by  Charles  X.  The 
gorgeous  ceilings  are  ugly  and  over-bright,  the 
gilding  too  glittering,  but  well-known  artists 
were  employed  to  paint  the  ceilings. 

Figurines  from  Ionia,  Greece,  Sicily  and  Italy 
form  part  of  this  collection ;  as  part  of  the 
Collection  Campana  alone  came  six  hundred 
terra-cottas  from  the  Necropolis  of  Myrina, 
excavated  by  members  of  the  School  of  Athens. 

There  is  not  in  the  world  a  finer  collection 
of  painted  vases,  of  which  there  are  over  six 
thousand  examples.  These  are  not  rooms  to  be 
seen  hurriedly :  they  must  be  lingered  in,  or 
ignored. 

The  development  of  Greek  and  Italian  art 
cannot  be  better  studied  than  among  these  vases 
and  figurines.  From  the  site  of  Troy,  in  Asia 
Minor,  came  the  earliest  existing  specimens  of 
pottery,  work  of  the  fifteenth  to  the  twelfth 
century  B.C.,  to  be  studied  in  Salle  A.  From  the 
sixth  century  B.C.,  a  vast  improvement  is  notice- 
able, and  the  terra-cottas  of  Greece  spread  their 
influence  far. 


ANTIQUE  PAINTINGS,  POTTERY  ETC. 

As  M.  E.  Pettier  says,  the  potteries  of  the  fifth 
century  B.C.  are  those  of  the  finest  period  of  Greek 
art.  Their  designers  have  given  to  them  an  archaic 
touch,  due  to  religious  sentiment  and  their  wish 
to  copy  the  types  worshipped  in  the  sanctuaries. 
But  all  the  workmanship  yet  reveals  the  influence 
of  the  divine  sculpture  of  that  period. 

Salle  A,  devoted  to  ( Origines  Comparees,'  is 
of  rather  specialist  interest.  The  vases  are  many 
of  them  of  incredible  antiquity,  but  lack  the 
beauty  of  later  work.  Pottery  from  Phrenicia, 
Cyprus,  Asia  Minor,  Italy  and  Crete  are  all  shown 
here. 

It  is  with  Salle  B,  which  contains  figurines 
of  great  beauty,  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  that  the 
collection  becomes  attractive  to  those  who  are  not 
students.  Salle  C,with  early  black  Etruscan  pottery 
of  beautiful  outline,  is  followed  by  Salle  D,  wherein 
are  Greek  and  Etruscan  antiques — among  them  a 
funeral  bed  from  Etruria,  life-size  and  practically 
uninjured. 

Salle  E  contains  Greek  vases  found  in  Italy  and 
the  Greek  Islands,  and  some  jewellery  from  Rhodes. 

The  oldest  vases  were  painted  in  black  on  a 
light  ground,  but  from  about  the  sixth  century 
B.C.  the  figures  are  in  red  on  a  black  background. 


THE    LOUVRE 

The  fine  amphorae  given  to  the  winners  in  the 
Panathenaean  games  in  Salle  F  are  good  examples 
of  this  earlier  type,  while  the  latter  can  be  studied 
in  Salle  G.  The  middle  of  the  fifth  century  B.C. 
saw  a  white  ground,  with  more  than  one  colour 
used  for  the  decoration.  The  Etruscan  vases  show 
very  strongly  the  Greek  influence  from  which 
they  sprang. 

The  Attic  vases  of  Salles  F,  G  and  H,  and  the 
Italian  pottery,  are  of  very  great  beauty.  In  Salle 
K  there  is  some  good  Italian  pottery ;  but  some- 
thing there  is  in  this  room,  despite  its  fine  vases, 
which  is  less  attractive,  less  fresh ;  the  spirit 
is  not  so  young,  there  is  more  of  formality  in 
these  rows  of  black  vases,  with  their  red  figures, 
beautiful  as  they  are. 

Salle  L  shows  the  cult  of  the  beautiful  supreme, 
Tanagra  and  Theban  figurines,  which  date  from 
the  fifth  and  fourth  century  B.C.,  and  vases  of 
the  most  austere  beauty  decorate  the  room.  In 
the  centre  is  a  great  vase  found  at  Milo,  a  work 
of  the  fifth  or  fourth  century  B.C.  ;  a  vase  signed  by 
Cleomenes  of  Athens  is  near  it.  '  Venus  rising  in  a 
Shell  from  the  Waves,'  '  Leda,'  '  A  Satyr,'  every 
fantasy  in  terra-cotta  is  here  carried  out  by 
craftsmen  who  were  artists. 

152 


LA   BOHEMIENNE 

l^rans  Hals 


CHARLES   I 

Van  Dyck 


ANTIQUE  PAINTINGS,  POTTERY,  ETC. 

Salle  M,  like  K  and  L,  is  part  of  the  Louvre  built 
under  the  Valois,  and  contains  Greek  pottery  from 
Asia  Minor,  Egypt  and  other  places ;  among  it 
vases  in  black  decorated  with  pink  figures  of 
great  charm ;  though  it  is  the  grotesque  in  this 
room  which  is  so  amazing. 

Over  the  fireplace  is  a  case  of  tiny  terra-cottas, 
brilliant  satire,  every  type  of  the  comic,  the  ugly. 
There  are  other  cases  too,  showing  how  the 
Greeks  understood  the  grotesque,  as  the  beauti- 
ful. The  frail  statues  of  f  Dance*  and  c  Music,* 
work  of  the  third  century  B.C.,  found  in  Egypt, 
surely  dance  by  night  when  the  Louvre  is  closed  ; 
those  tiny  expressive  limbs  can  never  be  stilled 
for  ever. 

Next  to  Salle  K  is  the  Salle  de  Clarac,  the 
ceiling  of  which  is  a  copy  by  Baize  of '  The  Deifi- 
cation of  Homer/  by  Ingres.  Sculptured  fragments 
and  ivories  give  this  room  an  interest.  A  small 
crouching  figure,  though  so  cruelly  mutilated,  is 
a  piece  to  linger  over  with  much  pleasure. 

The  Salle  des  Bronzes  Antiques,  on  the  first 
floor  of  the  west  side  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre, 
has  at  its  entrance  fine  iron  gates  from  the 
Chateau  de  Maisons ;  given  by  the  comte 

153 


THE    LOUVRE 

d'Artois  to  Charles  X.  This  room  was  once  the 
palace  chapel,  and  every  year  the  members  of 
the  Academic  Fran9aise  came  here  to  hear  Mass 
on  St  Louis'  Day,  when  there  was  a  discourse  on 
him. 

It  contains  fine  antique  bronzes,  many  of  Greek 
origin,  some  good  heads  and  small  statues,  and 
an  admirable  collection  of  implements  and 
weapons.  Among  the  statues  is  an  interesting 
archaic  '  Apollo/  and  a  Greek  head  of  a  youth, 
found  at  Benevento. 

Though  the  Salle  des  Bronzes  Antiques  is 
generally  empty,  the  Salle  des  Bijoux  Antiques, 
opening  out  of  the  Rotonde  d'Apollon,  is  never 
without  admiring  sightseers.  Even  a  glance  at 
the  cases  shows  to  what  an  unapproachable 
height  of  craftsmanship  the  gold  and  silver  smiths' 
work  of  antiquity  was  carried.  Here  are  gold  orna- 
ments, rings,  earrings,  fibulae,  of  the  finest  and 
most  delicate  work  and  design ;  cameos  and 
intaglios  in  wonderful  settings ;  a  veritable 
Aladdin's  treasure  is  poured  out  in  this  tiny  room. 

Much  of  the  goldwork  is  of  a  delicacy  un- 
approachable by  us,  worked  on  sheets  of  gold 
beaten  out  to  the  thickness  of  paper.  The  Greek 

154 


ANTIQUE  PAINTINGS,  POTTERY,  ETC. 

and  Roman  jewellery,  once  a  comparatively  in- 
different exhibit,  has  been  enriched  by  judicious 
purchases  and  by  the  Campana  Collection  ;  but  the 
chief  treasure  is  that  of  Bosco-Reale,  near  Pompeii. 
This  marvellous  silver  treasure  of  ninety-four  pieces 
was  found  in  1895  on  the  site  of  a  house  destroyed 
by  an  eruption  of  Mount  Vesuvius.  It  consists  of 
Greek,  Roman  and  Alexandrian  works  of  the 
first  century  ;  though  so  new  and  unworn  are  the 
pieces  that  it  is  hard  to  believe  they  are  more 
than  the  work  of  yesterday.  They  were  presented 
by  Baron  E.  de  Rothschild. 

A  staring  copper  statuette,  plated  in  silver,  of 
6  Fortune,'  from  Saint  Puits,  a  great  collection  of 
silver  pots  and  dishes  found  at  Notre-Dame- 
d'Alen9on,  a  Gallic  helmet  found  in  the  Seine 
near  Rouen,  and  an  Etruscan  helmet  decorated  in 
gold  are  other  treasures,  as  are  the  magnificent 
gold  crowns. 

Further  antique  jewellery  is  placed  among  the 
antique  pottery,  and  among  the  lesser  Egyptian 
and  Asiatic  antiquities. 


155 


VIII 

THE   IVORIES,   ENAMELS,   FURNITURE 
AND   FAIENCE 

IN  1893  a  special  department  of  Objets  d'Art 
du  Moyen  Age  et  de  la  Renaissance  was  formed 
in  the  Louvre ;  but  though  it  came  officially  into 
being  so  late  it  merely  brought  under  one  head- 
ing what  were  really  the  oldest  collections  of 
all.  For  the  kings  began  to  collect  bibelots  and 
jewels  before  they  collected  pictures  and  statues. 
Indeed  the  department  is  a  descendant  of  the 
ancient  Tresor  Royal,  and  of  that  which  in  the 
seventeenth  century  was  called  the  Tresor  des 
Meubles  de  la  Couronne,  afterwards  the  Garde 
Meuble  de  la  Couronne. 

Many  are  the  sources  from  which  this  depart- 
ment draws  its  treasures,  perhaps  the  chief  being 
the  Garde  Meuble  de  la  Couronne,  inventoried  in 
1791,  but  the  houses  of  emigres,  and  the  suppressed 
religious  establishments  also,  yielded  up  rich 
spoils.  Of  the  treasures  added  by  Napoleon  little 

156 


THE    IVORIES,    ENAMELS,    ETC. 

was  left  after  1815,  but  later  donors  have  been 
generous. 

The  Republic  of  1848  decreed  that  the  decora- 
tion of  the  Galerie  d' Apollon  should  be  finished, 
and  the  magnificent  hall  was  afterwards  arranged 
in  186l  to  contain  the  wonderful  treasures  of 
enamel,  gold,  rock  crystal,  silver  and  precious 
stones  which  now  make  the  hall  so  fascinating. 
This  long  room,  rich  in  sombre  gilding  and  with 
a  ceiling  of  the  last  magnificence,  is  now  full 
of  a  wealth  of  crystal  and  enamel.  The  ceiling, 
begun  by  Le  Brun,  was  finished  by  Guichard, 
Callet,  Legrenee  le  Jeune  and  Delacroix.  The 
latter  painted  the  fine  central  panel  of  ( Apollo 
vanquishing  the  Python/  The  sculptures  are  by 
Girardon,  Gaspard  and  Marcy. 

From  the  Garde  Meuble  came  many  of  the 
brilliant  enamels  in  this  gallery,  some  acquired 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  for  the  most  part 
bought  under  Louis  XIV.  These  enamels  form 
probably  the  finest  collection  in  Europe.1  Among 
them  are  pieces  by  Nardon,  and  other  members  of 
the  Penicaud  family,  Martin  Didier,  Reymond, 
Leonard  Limousin,  Couly  and  the  Nouailher 
family,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  Jean  de  Court 
1  The  Cluny  also  has  a  fine  collection  of  enamels. 

157 


THE    LOUVRE 

or  Vigier,  Pierre  Courteys  and  the  Laudins.  Among 
these  wonderful  enamels,  which  could  never  look 
finer  than  in  their  present  setting,  where  their 
amazing,  hot,  glowing  colours  have  the  background 
they  need,  are  the  enamels  executed  for  the  Sainte 
Chapelle  by  L.  Limousin  in  1553,  and  the  plaques 
from  the  Gospel  covers  which  were  in  the  treasury 
of  St  Denis,  an  example  of  twelfth-century  work. 

The  mediaeval  gold  work  is  a  good  collection,  of 
which  the  first  examples  are  of  the  tenth  century.1 
The  finest  example  of  this  date  is  the  (  Patine  de 
Suger,'  a  piece  of  work  partly  Oriental,  partly 
Carlovingian,  which  had  nothing  however  to  do 
with  Abbe  Suger.  A  beautiful  box  decorated  with 
repousse  work  and  enamel,  bearing  the  symbols 
of  the  Evangelists,  is  in  the  Byzantine  style,  but 
French  work.  It  was  the  property  of  Beatrix, 
sister  of  Hugues  Capet.  The  Byzantine  eleventh- 
century  Bible  cover  is  another  magnificent 
example  in  silver-gilt  repousse  work ;  the  fine 
Shrine  of  St  Potentian  is  a  German  work  of  the 
same  period. 

In  this  hall,  too,  is  the  gold  plate  made  for  the 
Chapel  of  the  Order  of  Saint  Esprit,  sixteenth- 

1  There  are  earlier  pieces  in  the  Cabinet  des  Medailles, 
Bibliotheque  Nationale. 

158 


THE    IVORIES,    ENAMELS,    ETC. 

century  French  goldwork.  Here  are  the  interest- 
ing objects  used  in  the  sacre,  the  crowning, 
of  the  French  kings — the  sword,  the  Hand  of 
Justice. 

When  the  objects  taken  from  the  churches 
were  seized  in  the  Revolution  little  was  thought 
of  them,  and  an  almost  priceless  opportunity 
of  acquiring  them  was  lost.  Most  people  were 
alive  to  the  importance  of  saving  pictures  and 
statues,  few  realised  the  importance  of  the 
smaller  objects.  True  the  Galerie  d'Apollon 
contains  some  antique  vases  mounted  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  which  came  from  the  treasury 
of  St  Denis,  and  from  the  same  treasury  too 
came  some  Byzantine  pieces,  some  ivories,  plate 
used  for  the  coronation  of  the  kings,  and  the 
silver-gilt  '  Virgin'  given  by  Jeanne  d'Evreux 
to  the  Abbey  of  St  Denis.  The  cup  of  the 
Ptolemies,  turned  into  a  chalice,  is  another 
important  piece,  but  these,  and  others  that  there 
are,  are  not  much  when  it  is  realised  how 
important  were  the  treasures  which  were  dis- 
persed. Numberless  were  the  objects  lost  to  the 
French  nation  from  ignorance. 

In  the  Galerie  d'Apollon  also  is  some  German 
fourteenth-century  plate,  and  some  fine  jewellery, 

159 


THE    LOUVRE 

including  Byzantine  work  of  the  tenth  century. 
Then  there  is  a  wealth  of  goblets  of  rock  crystal 
mounted  in  metal,  nearly  all  of  which  are  from 
the  collections  of  the  kings,  and  the  Garde 
Meuble. 

From  the  Garde  Meuble,  too,  came  some 
important  bronzes,  especially  those  of  Jean 
Bologne.  The  objects  seized  from  the  houses  of  the 
emigres  during  the  Revolution  also  were  taken 
without  much  discrimination,  though  they  alone 
should  have  filled  a  museum.  It  is  impossible 
to  imagine  what  rule  governed  their  choice. 
Some  goldsmiths'  work,  some  carving,  some 
bronzes,  some  china  are  in  the  museum ;  but 
much  was  sold  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  army, 
and  most  of  these  objects  were  lost  to  France. 
England  and  Russia  bought  largely  in  sales  where 
Renaissance  bronzes,  furniture  by  Boulle,  porce- 
lain, and  works  by  Cressent  and  Riesener  were 
sold. 

But  with  the  Restoration  the  importance  of 
all  these  smaller  works  of  art  began  to  be 
understood ;  though  then,  and  even  later,  objects 
were  taken  from  the  Louvre  whenever  they  were 
needed  to  enrich  the  royal  palaces.  Bronzes, 
examples  of  the  goldsmith's  art,  ivories  and 
1 60 


THE    IVORIES,    ENAMELS,    ETC. 

enamels  were  taken  away  to  furnish  the  Tuileries, 
St  Cloud,  Fontainebleau  and  Compiegne. 

In  1824  the  Collection  Durand  enriched  the 
Louvre,  and  the  enamels,  added  to  those  already 
taken  from  the  Sainte  Chapelle  and  other 
sources,  have  made  the  collection  of  the  Louvre 
very  fine.  From  this  same  collection  came  Italian 
faience  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Palissy  ware, 
and  Mediaeval  and  Renaissance  bronzes. 

In  1828  the  Collection  Revail  was  added, 
which  consisted  of  Mediaeval  and  Renaissance 
furniture,  ivories,  goldsmiths'  work,  ironwork 
and  bronzes.  Though  larger  and  more  expensive 
collections  have  been  added,  a  more  wisely 
selected  collection  has  never  entered  the  Louvre. 

Slowly  the  department  grew,  fostered  by  the 
intelligence  of  M.  Jeanson,  one  of  the  wisest 
heads  the  museum  has  known,  but  under  the 
Second  Empire  came  a  check. 

All  the  energy  and  money  available  was  turned 
to  the  establishment  of  that  monstrous  mistake, 
the  Musee  des  Souverains.  It  did  undoubtedly 
contain  fine  things,  but  how  mixed  up  with 
absurd  and  doubtful  relics  of  a  purely  personal 
kind,  down  to  the  soiled  handkerchief  of  a  king  ! 
Under  the  curator  Barbet  de  Jouy  it  was  hugely 
L  161 


THE    LOUVRE 

popular;  hardly  could  the  crowd  move  which 
came  to  view  this  part  of  the  Louvre.  The  object 
of  the  museum  was  certainly  to  create  a  monument 
to  the  glory  of  the  Napoleonic  dynasty,  quite  out 
of  place  in  a  palace  of  the  arts ;  fortunately  this 
museum,  so  mischievous  inasmuch  as  it  strangled 
the  healthy  development  of  the  Louvre,  was 
dispersed  by  a  decree  of  1871. 

Certainly  it  brought  together  objects  the 
Louvre  would  otherwise  have  missed  ;  the  coffer 
wrongly  called  the  '  coffret  de  St  Louis/  a  casket 
of  the  late  thirteenth  century,  was  among  them. 
In  1865,  too,  at  the  sale  of  the  duchesse  de  Berry, 
the  fine  fLivre  d'Heures'  of  Catherine  de 
Medicis  was  bought,  which  is  of  the  utmost 
value  to  students  of  sixteenth-century  French 
miniatures.  It  is  now  in  the  Galerie  d'Apollon 
with  Marie  de  Medicis'  Venetian  mirror  and 
candlestick,  and  many  of  the  smaller  and  more 
valuable  contents  of  the  Louvre ;  among  them 
remains  of  the  Crown  jewels,  the  crown  of 
Louis  XV.,  the  sword  made  for  Napoleon  in  1804, 
the  sword  made  by  Bapst  for  Charles  X.,  and 
other  jewels. 

In  I860  M.  Charles  Sauvageot  gave  to  the 
Louvre  his  fine  collection,  which  he  had  been 
162 


THE    IVORIES,    ENAMELS,    ETC. 

forming  since  1828.  Only  second  to  the  collection 
of  M.  du  Sommerard  at  the  Cluny,  it  enabled  the 
Louvre  to  show  a  chronological  series  of  objects 
impossible  before.  Among  his  treasures  were 
enamels,  ivories,  Palissy  ware,  and  the  unrivalled 
collection  of  sixteenth-century  German  portraits. 
The  great  Collection  Campana,  which  added  to 
this  department,  as  well  as  to  the  antique  section, 
gave  nothing  of  the  first  importance  ;  it  was  a  col- 
lection more  valuable  from  its  size  than  from  any 
special  pieces  of  rare  merit. 

In  1870  Barbet  de  Jouy  placed  in  the  Louvre 
a  number  of  vases  in  precious  stones,  mounted  in 
silver-gilt,  which  since  1858  had  been  decorating 
the  imperial  apartments.  In  1874  the  legacy  of 
M.  and  Madame  Philippe  Lenoir  enriched  the 
Louvre  with  a  goodly  number  of  snuff-boxes, 
miniatures,  and  examples  of  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  century  jewellery.  Fine  bronzes  from 
the  legacy  Gatteaux  were  added,  and  the  Timbal 
Collection  of  bronzes  and  ivories  was  acquired. 

The  donation  Thiers  was  also  given  to  the 
Louvre,  and  opened  on  6th  August  1884.  By  the 
terms  of  the  gift  it  has  to  be  kept  together,  and 
is  housed  in  rooms  on  the  first  floor  of  the  north 
side  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre.  Large  as  the 
163 


THE    LOUVRE 

collection  is,  it  contains  little  of  great  merit. 
Greek  and  Roman  antiques,  Renaissance  and 
modern  terra-cottas,  bronzes,  chiefly  of  the 
Italian  school,  marbles,  many  of  them  copies  of 
antiques,  but  a  few  work  of  the  Renaissance, 
ivories,  wood-carvings,  lacquer,  enamels,  porcelain 
are  all  shown. 

The  splendid  legacy  Davillier,1  especially 
useful  as  it  is  placed  wherever  it  can  best  aid 
in  the  classification  of  the  museum,  is  of  great 
importance,  and  gave  to  the  Louvre  a  valuable 
number  of  Mediaeval  and  Renaissance  objects. 
Many  less  important  gifts  have  helped  to  make 
this  department. 

In  1902  the  donation  Rothschild,  valued  at 
£800,000  was  added.  And  a  legacy  of  <£l  0,000, 
left  by  the  donor,  has  been  used  in  the  decoration 
of  the  small  room  which  contains  this  unrivalled 
collection.  The  ceiling  is  a  Venetian  one  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  the  room  also  contains 
a  good  Flemish  tapestry  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
It  is  placed  on  the  north  side  of  the  Cour  du 
Louvre,  on  the  first  floor.  Objects  in  carved  wood 

1  A  special  illustrated  catalogue,  entitled  *  Donation  du 
baron  Davillier  au  Museedu  Louvre,'  was  published  in  1885, 
by  M.  Louis  Courajod. 

164 


THE   IVORIES,    ENAMELS,   ETC. 

and  priceless  examples  of  the  goldsmith's  art 
are  set  out  here,  among  them  good  pieces  of  fif- 
teenth and  sixteenth  century  Italian  and  German 
workmanship.  A  wonderful  French  sixteenth- 
century  agate  rosary,  opening  to  reveal  tiny 
scenes  with  enamel  figures  is  a  striking  piece. 
Agostino  di  Duccio's  '  Virgin  and  Child '  is  here, 
and  a  fine  Flemish  thirteenth-century  reliquary 
from  the  Abbey  of  Floreffe.  Practically  every 
object  in  the  room  is  beautiful,  and  of  the  greatest 
interest. 

The  ivories  of  the  Louvre  are  in  a  room  close 
to  the  Collection  Rothschild.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
complete  series  in  the  world,  and  from  the  sixth 
to  the  nineteenth  century  it  permits  a  close  study 
of  this  art,  though  naturally  the  French  examples 
are  the  finer.1 

Among  the  chief  pieces  are  two  Latin  ivories 
of  the  sixth  century,  and  a  diptych  of  '  Christ 
with  four  Apostles,'  which  shows  the  transition 
between  antique  and  Christian  art.  There  are 
several  interesting  Byzantine  ivories,  and  some 
Roman  examples.  A  wonderful  Italian  box  of 
the  fifteenth  century  is  striking.  The  great 
altarpiece  given  to  the  Abbey  of  Poissy  by  the 
1  The  Cluny  also  has  a  fine  collection  of  ivories. 

165 


THE    LOUVRE 

due  de  Berry,  a  brother  of  Charles  V.,  is  a  very 
fine  fourteenth-century  work  of  the  Italian  school. 
Some  Italian  thirteenth-century  horse  trappings, 
a  French  thirteenth-century  '  Crowning  of  the 
Virgin,'  the  triptych  Harbaville,  a  Byzantyne  work 
of  the  tenth  century,  to  which  period  also  belongs 
a  fine  Arab  box,  and  the  charming  thirteenth- 
century  '  Virgin  of  the  Sainte  Chapelle/  are  only 
a  few  among  many  pieces.  Among  the  Flemish 
work,  that  of  Van  Opstal  ranks  high,  and  there 
are  several  ivories  by  him.  The  fine  Consular 
plaque  called  the  'Barbarini'  is  in  the  Salle 
de  Clarac. 

The  furniture  of  the  Louvre  is  magnificent, 
and  gains  enormously  from  its  setting  in  a  king's 
palace.  Most  of  the  furniture  is  housed  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre,  some  on  the 
west  side.  French  furniture,  as  apart  from  pieces 
meant  for  Church  use,  can  only  be  studied  from 
the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  even  the 
sixteenth  century  is  poorly  represented.  There 
are  specimens  of  Egyptian  furniture  among  the 
Egyptian  antiques  in  the  Salle  des  Colonnes. 

During  the  war  of  1870  the  furniture  of  the 
Tuileries  and  St  Cloud  was  brought  into  the 
Louvre,  and  it  is  chiefly  owing  to  this,  and  also 
166 


THE  IVORIES,   ENAMELS,   ETC. 

to  confiscations  during  the  Revolution,  that  the 
gallery  owes  its  importance.  In  one  room  are 
collected  together  examples  of  the  period  of 
Louis  XIV.,  a  bureau  by  Boulle,  that  very 
celebrated  craftsman,  a  secretaire  by  F.  (Eben, 
and  other  priceless  pieces.  Furniture  of  the 
period  Louis  XV.  became  more  elaborate,  curved 
lines  flourished,  and  more  decoration  was  added 
to  the  woodwork.  The  work  of  Cressent,  the 
Boulle  of  his  time,  is  an  example  of  this  tendency. 
The  bureau  made  for  Louis  XV.,  by  CEben, 
Riesener,  and  Duplessis  is  a  work  of  the  most 
cunning  craftsmanship,  and  reconciles  the  most 
stubborn  to  the  furniture  of  this  period.  It  is 
only  in  passing  through  these  rooms  that  one 
realises  how  enormously  this  type  of  furniture 
insists  on  being  of  the  finest.  Odious  in  inferior 
pieces,  beautiful  when  it  is  worked  by  a  master 
hand. 

In  the  great  salle  full  of  Louis  XVI.  furniture 
its  tendency  to  become  more  slender  is  clear. 
Many  of  the  characteristics  of  furniture  of  the 
preceding  reign  are  vanishing,  but  the  elabor- 
ate decoration  remains.  Pieces  by  the  chief 
great  workers  of  his  reign  are  here :  Carlin, 
Riesener,  Bennemann,  Levasseur.  Many  of  the 

167 


THE    LOUVRE 

objects  are  from  the  rooms  of  Marie  Antoinette  and 
the  Palace  of  St  Cloud.  Gouthiere  and  Riesener 
have  fashioned  that  bureau;  the  commode,  with 
its  beautiful  lacquer  inlay,  is  by  Carlin,  who 
also  worked  patiently  to  perfect  the  great  clock ; 
Bennemann  devised  the  commode  and  bureau, 
all  these  are  pieces  worthy  of  a  queen.  In  the 
window  are  waxes  by  Clodion,  and  beautiful 
French  porcelain,  on  the  walls  are  eighteenth- 
century  Gobelins  tapestry,  and  on  the  floors 
are  huge  carpets  from  the  Savonnerie.  Furniture 
of  the  Empire  is  better  studied  at  La  Malmaison, 
the  Empress  Josephine's  house,  where  it  is  in 
its  absolute  place,  or  at  Fontainebleau. 

Many  of  the  bronzes,  the  earlier  furniture,  the 
carvings,  the  armour,  the  metalwork  and  the 
beautiful  examples  of  Italian  faience,  of  the 
Mediaeval  and  Renaissance  periods,  are  placed  on 
the  east  side  of  the  Cour  du  Louvre.  Here  also 
is  French  china :  Rouen  ware,  Sevres  porcelain, 
and  Bernard  Palissy  ware. 


168 


IX 

THE  MUSEE  DE  MARINE,  THE  MUSEE 
CHINOISE,  THE  COLLECTION  GRAN- 
DIDIER,  AND  THE  CHALCOGRAPHIE 

ON  the  second  floor  of  the  Louvre  is  the  Musee 
de  Marine/  a  very  valuable  collection,  though 
chiefly  of  interest  to  children  and  experts.  It  is 
said  that  it  will  shortly  be  moved  to  the  hotel 
des  Invalides,  which  would  seem  a  more  natural 
home  for  such  objects. 

It  came  into  being  as  the  result  of  a  royal  decree 
of  the  27th  December  1827.  Constant  change  in 
marine  construction  makes  such  a  collection  very 
important ;  history  is  remembered,  but  the  actual 
ships  and  their  structure  are  alike  forgotten. 
Already  it  is  impossible  to  reconstruct  with  any 
certainty  ships  of  such  a  navy  as  that  even  of  St 
Louis,  and  these  considerations  led  to  this  museum 
coming  into  being.  In  it  are  drawings  of  French 

1  '  Le  Musee  de  Marine, '  by  Edmond  Paris,  was  published 
in  1883. 

169 


THE    LOUVRE 

ports  by  Joseph  Vernet,  remarkable  collections 
of  boats,  and  carvings  from  the  royal  ships  and 
State  barges. 

Perfect  models  of  warships,  of  ships  of  commerce, 
of  the  ships  of  far  countries,  are  preserved  here, 
and  there  is  also  a  collection  of  the  types  of 
fishing  boats  of  the  world.  The  more  technical 
exhibits  are  also  admirable. 

Close  to  the  Musee  de  Marine  is  the  Musee 
Chinoise,  a  poor  collection,  especially  when  the 
Musee  Guimet  is  open  to  all  Paris.  The  Salle 
Pelliot,  on  the  ground  floor  of  the  Pavilion  de  la 
Tremoille,  contains  further  Chinese  objects. 

The  Collection  Grandidier,  the  Musee  de 
F  Extreme  Orient,  is  placed  in  the  entresol  over- 
looking the  Seine.  The  entrance  is  on  the  Quai 
du  Louvre,  by  the  Porte  Jean  Goujon.  It  is  claimed 
for  this  collection  that  it  is  the  largest  and  most 
complete  collection  of  Chinese  porcelain  in  the 
world.  Certainly  these  ten  rooms  contain  wonder- 
ful specimens ;  and  in  one  of  them  is  Marie 
Antoinette's  collection  of  lacquer. 

In  the  same  entresol,  approached  by  the  same 
170 


THE  MUSEE   DE   MARINE,   ETC. 

door,  is  the  Chalcographie,  where  may  be  bought, 
for  a  few  francs,  fine  engravings  of  pictures  in  the 
Louvre,  and  other  works  of  art.  It  is  curiously 
neglected  by  a  public  which  flocks  to  the  photo- 
graphic gallery  of  the  Louvre. 

About  1670  Louis  XIV.,  that  great  stage 
manager,  resolved  to  order  from  the  chief  en- 
gravers of  his  time  engravings  which  should  per- 
petuate the  memory  of  his  wars,  his  court  fetes 
at  Versailles,  his  chateaux  and  everything  which 
appertained  to  his  glory, 

Soon  the  Cabinet  du  Roi  contained  hundreds  of 
plates,  from  which  the  king  had  engravings 
printed  for  presentation  to  princes  and  great 
nobles,  and  important  collectors.  They  were  on 
sale  too  at  the  house  of  ( Sieur  Sebastien  Cramoisy, 
imprimeur  du  Roi  et  direct eur  de  son  imprimerie 
royale.' 

This  royal  habit  of  having  engravings  made  of 
great  events  and  works  of  art,  palaces  and  other 
tilings  of  interest  to  France,  was  carried  on  by 
later  kings,  and  now  by  the  Republic.  The 
Chalcographie  Nationale  has  ateliers  in  the 
Louvre,  which  has  now  over  ten  thousand  en- 
gravings to  print  from. 


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CHAS.  W.CLARK  CO. 
BOOKSELLERS 


